The Choices We Make
by fbiloveemandhotch
Summary: What happens when our favorite duo realizes they are not in love with their partners, and they are in love with each other. When Emily gets proposed by her boyfriend, will Hotch make a move or will he stand there letting his one and true love marry some one else? Will they ever speak their true feelings for each other. Then there is Beth...does he love Beth or Emily?
1. Chapter 1

The Choices We Make

Chapter 1

Hello guys, as promised, here is the new story. Hotch/Prentiss, of course. With the help of my beautiful friend, _SouthunLady, _we will keep you entertained.

Hotch and Prentiss had become good friends, they are in love with each other, only they aren't aware of their feelings for each other. At this time, they are both in relationships with someone else. Hotch is in a relationship with Beth, and Emily is in a relationship with Andrew. Both of them believe they are in love with their partners, or at least they think they are. What happens when Emily gets proposed to by Andrew? Will Hotch let her get married to another man, or will he break Beth's heart to be with the women he truly loves? Suddenly, an unexpected pregnancy makes things even more complicated for the brunette duo.

The team walked out of the BAU office heading to the parking lot. It had been a hell of a month with technically no days off. They finally had the weekend off, and they were supposed to go to Dave's beach house for a short vacation. It was also Jack's birthday, and Dave had planned to throw a big party for little Jack since it was Hotch's year to keep Jack. As they walked through the parking lot, they were laughing and talking, Morgan had suggested they all go to a bar for a few drinks and forget that everything outside their little world existed. Everyone had agreed to go, even Hotch, who normally turned them down. Hotch was following close behind, and he was talking on the phone with someone.

"No, of course, I want you to come. I'm on my way to pick you up." He suddenly hung up and caught up with the rest of the team.

"Guys, I'm going to go get Beth, then I'll met you at the Bar." He said, looking at his phone. Everyone looked at him in surprise...it was at least an hour's drive to Beth's house, and another hour coming back, which meant it was going to take Hotch at least two hours to get to the bar.

"Hotch, we're only going to get a few drinks, man; there's no point in driving all the way there and back. Why don't you just go with us for a couple of drinks, and then go to Beth's afterwards?" Morgan said, making Hotch's reason that it was an unnecessary drive.

"I know that, but Beth wants to come anyway." Hotch had been in a relationship with Beth for almost a year now, and she was already extremely controlling and jealous. She would hardly let him out of her sight, and she hated it when they went out and Emily and JJ were in the crowd and made sure to keep her hands on Hotch at all times.

Emily just looked at him with sad eyes...he had changed so much since his relationship started with Beth. In fact, they had stopped being friends and both had distanced themselves from each other. Emily did not really like Beth; she wasn't sure why, but she knew she didn't like the person Hotch had turned into since he had been with her. Beth was also slightly rude to Emily and JJ, and Emily didn't even know why since she had only spoken a few words with her in passing.

"You know what, guys, I think I'm just going to go home, it's been a long night." Emily said, she was tired, and the last thing she wanted was to be around Beth and Hotch. She was also hurt and mad at him. She understood Beth was a jealous and possessive person, but she couldn't understand why Hotch had changed so much toward her; he had started calling her Prentiss again, and the few times he approached her, it was about work.

Before his relationship with Beth, Emily and Hotch were amazing friends; she had helped him with his divorce and with the whole Foyet thing. In fact, they had helped each other so much, and they had gotten each other back on their feet. They used to spend many nights together, having dinner and going to the movies; it was almost like a relationship only they were not dating. They told each other everything, and they were there for each other. But then, Beth happened. Hotch met her in a park,and he started dating her, and although Emily wasn't very trusting of her, it did not matter for Hotch. Emily knew there was something very odd and cheesy about Beth, a woman who just happened to meet an FBI agent in the park and fall in love with him like nothing was very odd. But, when Emily told Hotch something seemed cheesy about her, he told Emily she was being paranoid, and that she did not know anything about love since she had never been in a long-term relationship. After that night, their friendship broke apart, and they hardly spoke after that. Then Emily met Andrew, and she started seeing him, and that was the last drop in the glass. Hotch never spoke to her after that for anything unless it was a work matter. Emily was hurt, but she decided to focus on her relationship with Andrew. She had lost her friend, but it didn't seem to matter to him, and if that was the case, she wasn't going to care either.

"Come on, Em, for real, you promised you would go," JJ whined from behind. JJ needed to talk to her best friend about so many things, and she was going to take advantage of that night to do so.

"Yeah, Emily, I'm even going," Spencer said in a pleading tone.

"I'm sorry, guys….I just….all of the sudden, I'm not in the mood." She said, apologizing.

"If she doesn't want to go, then she doesn't have to." Hotch said, glaring at Emily.

"I'm sure she has more important things to do than spending time with her friends," He added, in a harsh tone; Emily just glared at him, thinking 'what the hell was his problem'. They both looked at each other for a minute with hatred in their eyes. Hotch felt his blood boiling, he was absolutely sure her plans changed because of "him", and that was why she was ditching her friends. Hotch thought to himself 'ever since she started dating him, she's changed. Andrew was an idiot in his opinion, he couldn't figure out what Emily had seen in him...he was goofy, and he wasn't even good looking. He was basically like a dumb puppy following her around.'

"I'm sorry, guys." She apologized again and got in her car. She wasn't going to let him get to her...she didn't know what the hell his problem was, but every time Andrew's name came up, Hotch's attitude toward Emily changed...he became an asshole to her. Wasn't he supposed to be happy for her? Wasn't he supposed to be glad she had found someone who was amazing to her and cared for her? But then again, she wasn't even sure if they were ever friends in the first place. As she drove home, she picked up her phone dialing Andrews's number.

"Hey, pretty lady," He answered.

"Hey...I'm on my way home now; sorry I didn't call earlier, but it has been a long day." She sighed.

"Its ok, sweetie, I understand, do you want me to come over tonight." He asked, anxious to see his girlfriend since he had not seen her in a long time.

"Actually, I just want to go home and sleep...I am exhausted…can we take a rain check?" She asked, she wasn't in the mood for anything. Hotch's attitude had put her in a bad mode, and all she wanted to do was go home and sleep.

"Of course, sweetie. Go rest, talk to you later. I love you Em." Andrew said, he was totally in love with Emily; he had met her at a bar one night when the girls and her were out, and he had fallen completely in love with her. Andrew was a successful banker, and he was amazing to Emily. He had treated her like a queen from the beginning when they started dating which it was about six months ago.

"Good night, Andrew." She said, hanging up the phone. Even though he had told her repeatedly that he loved her, she had never told him that she loved him, she just didn't feel it yet. Of course, she cared for him, he was amazing to her, but she just wasn't able to say those words to him, and she didn't even know why. She just couldn't. Right now, she was so furious at Hotch, and she didn't even know why she was furious with him either.

A few hours later at the bar Hotch, was drinking with his friends and his girlfriend Beth. He had been sitting at the table for most of the night just staring at his beer. He had only taken a few sips of his beer, and his mind was definitely somewhere else.

"Are you ok?" Beth asked, running her hands through his hair, of course, Beth had been all over him since they arrived at the bar.

"I'm fine" He lied, giving her a smile and a soft kiss on the lips. He was anything but fine.

He had done nothing but think about Emily the entire night. He wasn't even sure why he was so upset at her. The team had not hung out as a family in so long, and now that they had, she had blown them off to be with that idiot boyfriend of hers. He hated Andrew so much… the truth was, he didn't even know why he hated him.


	2. Chapter 2

The Choices We Make

Chapter 2

Everyone was gathered at Dave's beach house...it was a gorgeous day outside, and the team was ready to take advantage of a full week off. Everyone was there together as a family, everyone except Emily. She had promised to come, so Dave was sure she would be there. She had never broken a promise to him, but everyone else had arrived the previous day, and Emily wasn't there yet. Morgan and Garcia were now playing with a beach ball on the beach with Henry and Jack. JJ and Will were sitting close by drinking a cold beer and enjoying the sunny day. Reid was, of course, at the edge of the pool reading a book, something that was very common for him. Dave, Hotch and his girlfriend, Beth, were sitting on the patio talking and drinking. Hotch seemed to be happy and smiling a lot, something that was not very common of him, even in a relationship he still did not smile much. Dave had not figured out why yet, but perhaps things would change once they committed more.

Dave kept constantly glancing at his watch; he knew he had given Emily the correct directions so why wasn't she here yet?

"Is everything all right, Dave?" Hotch asked, grabbing a few beers from the cooler and handing one to him and one to Beth.

"Yeah, I was just wondering if Emily got lost...she should be here by now." He said, looking at his watch once again. Hotch just nodded, he had also been wondering where she was and whether she was going to show with that idiot boyfriend of hers. Beth immediately quirked her mouth into a fake smile, she was hoping that "slut" didn't show at all.

"Maybe she changed her plans," Beth said, hoping her dream came true.

"No, Em isn't like that, she would be here," Dave said, standing up to go inside to grab his phone and call her.

Just as Dave was walking inside his house to get his cellphone, the doorbell rang. Dave went to open the door and met Emily and her boyfriend at the door. Emily had not told him she was going to bring Andrew.

"Hey…I hope you don't mind me bringing Andrew," She said, as she greeted and hugged Dave.

"Of course not, Em, you can bring anyone you want, Andrew, it's nice to see you again," He said, shaking Andrews's hand.

"Nice to see you again, Sir."

"Call me Dave, please, Sir makes me feel old." Dave smiled playfully, getting out of the way so Emily and Andrew could go in the house.

"You are old, Dave." Emily teased.

"Funny..." He grabbed Emily's bag and led them inside.

"Come on, guys, I'll take you to your room so you can get ready…I hope you are ready for paradise.."

Emily and Andrew followed him to their bedroom to settle in and put on their beach attire.

A little while later, the three of them walked outside where everyone else was. The first thing that caught Emily's eye was Beth sitting on Hotch's lap while they were kissing; for some reason, that image made her stomach tighten up in knots.

As they walked in further, Beth and Hotch broke apart just in time to realize the new company had arrived. What the hell is he doing here? This is only a family thing Hotch thought to himself.

Hey guys, sorry I'm late…" She faked a smile to Hotch and his girlfriend; she had promised herself she wasn't she wasn't going to let anything get to her this week.

"Hotch, you remember Andrew, right?"

"Actually, I don't," He spat in a cold tone. Emily just glared at him.

"Well, this is my boyfriend, Andrew."

"Nice to meet you, Sir." Andrew extended his hand to shake Hotch's hand.

Hotch just looked at him sternly. "Nice to meet you." He said, walking away with Beth without shaking his hand.

Emily wanted to punch him in the face, what the hell was his problem. She turned around to kiss Andrew.

"Come on, lets go see the girls." Deciding to go see her best friends and erase that image out of her head, she walked towards the beach holding her boyfriend's hand.

The rest of the day was spent at the beach playing around, Jack was ecstatic that Emily was there. For some reason, little Jack wasn't very fond of Beth, but he didn't want to tell his dad because he wanted his dad to be happy and smile. Emily being there was a huge plus for him, and now he was happily chasing Emily around the beach. Emily had been wearing a white sundress all day, she had not gotten into the water yet. She wanted to just chill for today, and maybe tomorrow get in the water.

The next day was Jack's birthday, and everyone woke up early to help with decorating while Hotch, Reid and Will took Jack away on a small boat. Dave had decorated the house with Spiderman since it was Jack's favorite character, and because he was a super hero just like his daddy. Dave, Morgan and Andrew were decorating the outside of the house and setting out all the surprises Dave had prepared for the party, JJ, Garcia and Emily were inside the house in charge of snacks and food. Beth had been locked in her room mysteriously with a migraine. As the girls were talking, they were laughing and baking at the same time. It had been a while since they were all together like a family.

"He is such a hottie…you are so lucky, Em," Garcia said, eating a piece of the watermelon JJ was cutting and looking out the window watching Andrew hang up some balloons. Except for Hotch, everyone liked Andrew, he was actually a very good looking man, blonde hair, blue eyes, very well-educated and smart. Most importantly, he adored Emily, and he was the nicest guy she had ever dated. Everyone was so happy for her, and they were sure he was the right man for Emily.

"I know…he is sweet and nice…to me," Her eyes followed in the same direction.

"But? " JJ asked, looking at Emily's question in her eyes.

"I never said a but..." Emily laughed nervously. The truth was...she couldn't figure out what the but was, he was, in fact, the nicest guy she had ever dated, any woman would be lucky to have him. But, she wasn't sure, she had not been able to say those three words to him, she figured that with time, she would. but right now she just…..she just did not feel it.

"God, Emily, please don't...he is perfect. He is good looking, he has money, he is amazing to you. What else do you want?" JJ added, looking at her again, she did not need to be a profiler to know for some reason her friend wasn't completely into the banker.

" I know...I'm lucky," She said walking toward the oven.

A few hours later, Hotch had returned with the boys and Jack, and everyone was now having fun by the pool playing with Jack and Henry. Everyone was in the water, even Beth, whose migraine had miraculously disappeared. Emily, however, was sitting by the pool in a chair; she was smiling and watching her friends have fun. Dave got out of the pool to go get more beer, and he walked toward her.

"What! are you afraid you would drown if you get in there?"-he said smiling at the brunette.

Not at all…I am just not in the mood for water just yet…"-she said smiling back.

"I think you don't know how to swim that's why," Dave teased, handing her a beer.

"I hate to disappoint you, but I am probably a better swimmer than you."

"Then prove it," He said, jumping back in the pool.

"Come on, Em…we'll save you if you drown." Dave teased again, splashing her with water.

"Dave…." Emily squealed, trying to cover her face. But, she was wet now, and there was no other way to protect herself. Watching the amusement on Dave's face, she finally took of her blue patterned dress revealing a very sexy black and white two piece bathing suit. She looked so sexy and beautiful that everyone turned to look at her. She was very slim and had a very toned body, with perfect hips and a great ass, and if that wasn't enough, her legs were long and slim.

Hotch, who was playing with Jack, couldn't help but notice the brunette at the end of the pool taking of her dress, and his breath caught in his throat. He had never seen Emily with that little amount of clothes on and right now, he was having trouble keeping his thoughts together. Of course, Beth had noticed immediately that her boyfriend's eyes were glued to Emily, and she immediately moved in front of him blocking his view, shooting him a cold look. Beth hated any other woman that could catch Hotch's attention, but Emily, she just wanted her dead,..there was something about Emily that made Beth feel very insecure. After the cold stare from Beth, Hotch's attention went back to Beth and Jack.

A little while later, Emily got out of the pool and wrapped her towel around her waist, walking towards the cooler to get a bottle of water for her and one for Andrew, who had been playing with her in the water for the last hour. Beth noticed an opportunity to approach Emily since everyone was still gathered around the pool.

"Are you having fun, Agent Prentiss?" Beth asked, faking a smile and grabbing a bottle of water as well.

"I am thanks," Emily smiled drinking some of the water.

"I would like to advise you to dress a little more appropriately since there are a lot of decent people and children around here." She said, evilly.

"Excuse me?" Emily asked, she couldn't believe what Beth had just said to her.

"I just think you might want to be more respectful and cover yourself a little bit more…this isn't a strip club." Beth said, looking at Emily up and down in disgust.

Before Emily could answer anything or defend herself, Hotch approached them, wrapping his arms around Beth from behind.

"Hey there you are…what are you two doing?" He immediately noted Emily's defensive pose.

"I was just telling Agent Prentiss how nice is to see her again and how pretty she looks." Beth replied, faking a smile.

"You are so nice, baby." Hotch said, kissing her. "Come on, baby, let go back to the pool." He said, grabbing her hand and separating the two brunettes.

Emily just stayed there looking at the scene in front of her...she couldn't believe what Beth had just said to her, and most importantly, she couldn't believe she had lied to Hotch also. She knew there was something wrong with her, and now she knew what, Beth was the most fake person she had ever met. Emily knew if she tried to tell Hotch he would never believe her, and besides that point Hotch wasn't even talking to her anymore, so it really didn't matter. She saw Andrew smiling at her from far away, and she smiled back at him. Maybe it was time to forget about the psycho and focus on her relationship with Andrew, After all, Hotch seemed to be very happy, and he was an adult, and he knew very well what he was doing. She walked towards Andrew thinking it was time to just focus on him and really give him a chance and give herself completely over to him.


	3. Chapter 3

The Choices We Make

Chapter 3

It had been almost two months since the party at Dave's beach house. Emily and Hotch had not spoken much to each other since then, partly because they were both still mad at one another and partly because work had been crazy. Emily knew Beth wasn't who she pretended to be because she had caught her in several lies, and she was almost sure she was hiding something from Hoch, but she was absolutely sure if she told Hotch, he would not believe her, since the last time she had tried to warn him about Beth, he had told Emily that she knew nothing about love so she decided to leave it alone.

She missed her friend, of course, but she knew that she would never admit that to him, and his psycho girlfriend was already not happy about him talking to anyone that was a female, which it was exactly why she was mad at him, she thought their friendship was stronger than anything, and he would never let anything get between them, especially not a psycho, insecure woman. She did miss him...they used to spend their weekends at her house talking and watching movies. Hotch would even cook for them sometimes, something that Emily found incredibly amazing. He was the one person she could talk with about almost anything. But now, he had stopped talking to her, and he started acting exactly like he did with her when she first started at the BAU...like he did not trust her, and he wanted her as far away from him as he could get her.

Hotch, on the other hand, was sad; he missed his best friend greatly, well technically, his best friend was Dave, but Emily was his best female friend. She probably knew him better than anyone in the world, and now she had forgotten about him. Of course, she had that idiot all over her, how could she have time to think about anything else? He never thought Emily would be the type of woman who would lose her head over a man like that to the point that she forgot about her friends. Then there was Beth...for some reason, Beth was extremely jealous over Emily, and he couldn't understand why; she actually was extremely joyous over anyone, but with Emily, Beth was overtly jealous. Every time Hotch mentioned her, even if it was involving a case, Beth would get extremely upset, and the last thing he wanted right now was drama. So, he decided to let that part go and just stay with his girlfriend, and let Emily live her life; after all, she was an adult woman.

The team was working a case in Memphis, and it had been the longest two days of their lives. They were after a sadistic arsonist killer who had targeted women at nightclubs; he would rape them and then burn them alive. They thought they had a profile figured out, but after several days and following lead after lead, they had come up empty. They had interviewed witness after witness, and they all came to the same conclusion, they had never seen his face, and they had no idea who he was; all they had right now was a small DNA sample that Garcia was working on, and she still had no matches.

"There must be something we are missing, this can't be all the evidence." Emily exhaled, exasperated when they were back at the Memphis Police Department. She was working with Reid on victimolgy for the third time since they had arrived.

Hotch and Rossi had gone to interview one of the victims that had survived, and now they were in the hospital with several serious burns. JJ and Morgan where working on a profile again along with the team from the police department.

"We aren't missing anything, I memorized all this information." Reid said, looking at the files in deep concentration. Emily just rolled her eyes and continued pacing around the room.

"You know what! I'm going to go see McClelland again, I feel like there was something he wasn't telling us." McClelland was a friend of the unsub, or a least, they thought that he was. He was one of the witnesses that had most closely and accurately described the unsub and his moves.

"Emily, wait, I don't think you should go by yourself!" Reid protested.

"Come on, Reid, it's just an interview,..I'll be fine...stay here and finish victimology; I'll call you if I find out anything." She smiled and walked out of the police department before Reid could say something else to stop her.

A short while later, the rest of the team arrived back at the station to brief everyone else on what they had found.

"Where's Prentiss?" Hotch asked, scanning around the room.

"She went back to McClelland's to ask more questions about our unsub." Reid said nervously, knowing that he should have not let her go by herself.

"And you let her go alone!?" Dave asked, irritated.

"She wouldn't let me go with her…you know how she is." Reid replied, defending himself.

Before Reid could answer, Morgan's cellphone rang.

"Ya baby girl…I'm putting you on speaker….."

"I got the DNA match….our unsub is Jason McClelland, he was positive for all the DNA found on the victims."

"OMG, Emily…" JJ whispered.

Hotch banged his fist on the wall, and before anyone could process or say anything else, Hotch ran out of the building running to his SUV and driving away as fast as he could. Morgan and Dave followed him telling JJ and Reid to stay at the station. Hotch drove as fast as he could running through red lights and probably breaking a million traffic laws. The only thing on his mind was Emily and saving her…if he did not make it on time and something happened to her, he would never forgive himself.

He arrived at the unsub's house and without waiting, he ran towards the front door, knocking it down and getting inside the house. He held out his gun searching for the unsub or any signs of Emily. He searched the entire house, then he followed a hall that led to the basement from where he could hear music. He slowly walked down the stairs, and he could hear the unsub talking to someone, but he couldn't hear to whom he was talking to, he opened the door softly and saw the unsub leaning on the floor over Emily's unconscious body. It was just then that the unsub realized Hotch was there, and he pulled out his gun...before he could do anything else, Hotch had fired his gun several times as the unsub dropped dead on the floor. He immediately ran toward Emily, who was still unconscious on the cold floor. He lifted her softly and carefully, and he could see that she was freezing cold and pale. He could hardly find a pulse.

"Emily…wake up, please. You're going to be alright…stay with me, please." He heard Dave , Morgan and the SWAT team arriving at the scene.

"I need a medic, please, officer down…..I need a fucking medic…" He screamed frantically.

Emily slowly opened her eyes. She had a bruise on her forehead where she had been hit with something heavy, and there was a small trail of blood coming out of it.

'Hotch….." She whispered, almost inaudibly.

"You're goanna be fine…..Em, stay with me…I've got you." He said, holding her close to him.

"Goddamit, I need a medic." He screamed again.

A few hours later, the team was in the waiting room of the hospital waiting for the doctors. Emily was being inspected by the doctors, and Hotch was pacing around the room nervously and everyone was quiet. They were hoping there was nothing wrong with her.

"Emily Prentiss?" The doctor said, calling for her family.

"Yes," Hotch and Dave said at the same time. "I'm her supervisor. She is an Agent of the FBI."

"Well, she's going to be fine, there is no broken bones or skull fractures, she does have some deep lacerations, and she was drugged, but she will be all right." The doctor said, looking at the team and reassuring them that she would be all right.

"Doctor, did he….?" Hotch could not finish the sentence.

"No, there is no sign of rape or sexual intercourse." He finished for him; the whole team sighed in relief.

'It looks like you guys got there in time…she needs a lot of rest, but she will be fine, she needs to be kept here for a few days." The doctor smiled, and Hotch just nodded as the doctor walked away, feeling he could breathe again since he had arrived at the hospital.

"Dave, go ahead and take the team home, I'll stay with Emily, and we'll take a flight back when the doctor says she is okay to fly." He instructed.

"Are you sure?" Dave asked, concerned.

"Yes, you heard the doctor, she needs to be here a few more days, and Strauss needs the team back at Quantico, go back with them. I'll stay here with Emily. He said firmly.

"All right, call me if you need anything. Give Em our love." The team walked out of the hospital leaving Hotch alone with Emily.

Later that night, Emily slowly opened her eyes...everything was very fuzzy, and her head felt like it was going to explode.

"How do you feel?" Hotch asked tenderly; he had been sitting at the edge of the bed waiting for her to wake up.

"Dizzy." She said softly, avoiding looking at him; for some reason, she did not want him to be there right then.

Hotch came closer to her grabbing her hands softly,

"You scared the hell out of me you know that?" He said, looking at her, his eyes watering.

"Are you saying I'm fired, or what?" She asked, coldly looking away, although she couldn't help noticing the spark that ran through her body the minute he touched her.

"No, I'm saying I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you." He kissed her hand tenderly, for the first time, the anger he had felt was gone, he was just happy his friend was fine. Emily turned around to look at him, she could see the pain in his eyes, and she could see he was fighting tears.

"You have Beth, you would have been fine." She didn't know why she said that, but she did.

"It's not the same." He whispered softly. Emily just looked at him with questioning eyes.

"You are my best friend….." He added, smiling at her.

"Then why?' She asked, hurt.

"Why what?" Hotch asked, confused.

"You stopped talking to me because of her, Aaron." She looked away again.

"I know, Em, and I'm sorry. You also distanced yourself because of Andrew." He added sadly.

"I miss my friend, you know." Emily said, looking at him again with tears in her eyes.

"I'm here, Em, I always have been and I always will be." He hugged her and for the first time in almost a year, he felt that closeness to his friend again. He knew then that even though they were both in a relationship, their friendship would always be there...but was it really only a friendship they felt for each other?


	4. Chapter 4

After Emily's night in the hospital and the flight back to DC, the friendship between the brunette duo was on great terms again, if not stronger than it had ever been. They didn't have much time to spend together because they both worked many hours, and well, they both have significant others, but even with having other people in their lives, they still were able to find time for each other. At the beginning, it was just coffee, or a few beers at night after work, but then it became more than that. Hotch, of course, wasn't telling Beth about any of this because she was already acting crazy enough to the point that it was already beginning to scare him, so he chose to avoid telling her about those moments with his best friend; after all, he wasn't doing anything wrong, after all, they were just friends. Emily, on her side, also chose not to tell Andrew about the time she was spending with Hotch. He wasn't a jealous person, and he knew they spent a lot of time together at work , but somehow it just felt better not to have to explain anything, not that there was anything to explain, but she'd rather not mention it.

This weekend, Andrew was out of town at a banker's conference, and Emily was going to have the weekend to herself. She and Andrew didn't live together, but they did spend a lot of time at her place, and for some reason, Emily felt relief to have this time to herself. Okay, that was a lie, she wasn't going to spend it alone, she wanted to go shopping for a new living room suite and Hotch had volunteered to help her select the new living room suite. Hotch had told Beth he was going to be on another case, since Beth would probably kidnap him and not let him out of the house at all if she knew he was going to be helping Emily do anything, and he needed, for some reason, to take a break from Beth. He had told Beth he was going to be working on a case, and technically, it wasn't a lie because he was going to work on a case after furniture shopping, in fact, he and Emily were going to come back to her place to work on the files, and there were at least 18 of them, so he wasn't really lying. Okay, so, he was lying, but it was a white lie and truly, Beth was starting to asphyxiate him, and he had promised Emily to help, so he couldn't break his promise to her, he had to keep his word, after all.

So, early on Saturday morning, he drove to the brunette's apartment with two cups of Starbucks coffee, knowing that Emily would need the caffeine first thing. He rang her doorbell.

"Hey you." She greeted, opening the door.

"Hey." He leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek and walked inside the apartment handing her the coffee.

"God, you are an angel!" Emily smiled, grabbing the coffee as Hotch watched her face light up...if there was something she was addicted to, that was caffeine.

"I'm almost ready, I just need to get my jacket." She smiled.

"Em, come on, it's like 70 degrees outside…you…"

"Don't finish that sentence if you know what is good for you, Agent Hotchner," She cut him off. Hotch immediately shut his mouth, rolling his eyes at her and smiling widely.

"Give me one minute, I'll be right back." She ran upstairs before he could say anything else.

A while later, they were walking through the furniture store after they had seen at least 20 different living rooms, and she had not decided on one yet. Hotch just followed behind her quietly, he knew better than to say anything; if he said he liked something, Emily would immediately disapprove of it, or find something wrong with it, and when he didn't say anything, she would say he wasn't helping her. So, he just chose to nod his head when she said something she liked, or he shook his head when she disapproved of something...that way, he had survived for the last 3 hours at the furniture store.

"What about that one?" Emily pointed at a dark chocolate, very elegant leather set that came with glass tables.

"Em, that is almost exactly what you have already." Hotch said, exasperated.

"No, it's not mine, mine is darkish, more chocolateish." She pointed out.

"Chocolateish? That is not even a word, Em."

"Yes, it is, and you know what? I am taking this." She said, lying on the sofa testing it to see if it was comfy enough, and bouncing on the sofa like a happy child.

"How old are you again?" Hotch asked, looking at the brunette in front of him acting like a happy child on Christmas opening gifts. Emily got up from the sofa sticking her tongue out at him, then she approached him unexpectedly and wrapped her arms around his neck kissing his cheek; he immediately deeply drew in the smell of her hair and her intoxicating fragrance...he closed his eyes and just felt butterflies in his stomach.

"You are the best friend ever, I'll be right back, stay here, I'm getting someone to help…" She said, pulling away from him and walking away, smiling like she had just won the lottery. For some reason, Hotch smiled widely, he wasn't sure if it was because he loved to see his friend happy, or because they were finally finished shopping, or perhaps, it was the fact that she had just kissed him on the cheek, of course, but it felt amazing. It was just a friendly kiss, but for some reason, it felt so different.

Later that night at her house, Hotch was cooking for the two of them. They had been working on the case files since they had gotten back from the furniture store, and that was almost five hours ago, so they were both starving. He had decided to make a quick pasta and the house smelled delicious.

"Come on, how much longer…I am starving." Emily pouted, from the table they were working on.

"I swear, you are worse than Jack." Hotch said, Emily just looked at him making her pout even deeper. He just smiled, and for a minute, he just thought about the image in front of him. He had never really thought of her as anything other than his friend, but now that he really thought about it, she was a very beautiful woman, especially now pouting like that. She was absolutely gorgeous, and she always managed to make him smile, even when she was acting like a five year old. She was smart and talented, and she had an amazing heart and concern for others. He shook his head trying to get those thoughts out of his mind...he was in a relationship, and so was she. They were just friends...that was all. He turned his attention back to his pasta.

It was then that Emily looked up from the files, to watch Hotch cooking on the other side of the kitchen. He was deeply concentrating on his task, and that made her smile, she loved to see him smile. It wasn't very often that Aaron Hotchner smiled like that, most of the time he had a very serious look on his face. But tonight, he was smiling, and he had the cutest dimples ever, they make him look….sexy? was the word she was looking for? Of course, he was sexy, he was s very good looking man, with an amazing personality, and in addition, he was dedicated and driven. He was a great father….and….just in that moment, he looked up from the food to look at her again. Emily quickly looked away blushing, Come on, Emily, what the hell!...you are in a relationship, and her attention went back to the files, only glancing occasionally at him, when he wasn't noticing.

Suddenly, Emily's phone rung.

"Hey, honey." She answered swiftly." Hey, baby, I just got to the hotel….how are you?" Andrew asked, missing his girlfriend dearly.

"I'm good, I'm finishing some stuff from work." She said suddenly, looking at Hotch who was looking at her; for some reason, he seemed upset all of a sudden...his smile had disappeared.

"Are you alone?" Andrew asked, knowing that since she had the weekend to herself, she would probably invite Garcia or JJ over to keep her company.

"Yeah, I am, I was just reading over our last case." She lied, she wasn't sure how Andrew would react if all of a sudden she said 'Yeah, my boss is here and we are alone.'

"I miss you, Em, I miss you so much." Emily's mind was back on Hotch. She wasn't sure why he had gotten upset all of a sudden, but she did not like it at all.

"Em." Andrew called.

"I'm sorry, I'm just tired." She said, trying to sound like she was actually listening to him.

"Well, go to bed, baby, I will talk to you later." Andrew said sweetly. Good night, baby, I love you."

'Good night, Andrew." She said, hanging up.

Hotch couldn't help noticing she wasn't affectionate with him at all; in fact, it sounded like she was talking to a guy she'd just met. Then, suddenly, his mind wandered, and he started thinking about how her relationship with Andrew was…..if she was happy with him….how did he treat her when they were alone….did he make her smile…..did he please her in bed….did he make her see stars?

"Hotch!" Emily shouted a little bit louder.

"I'm sorry, what?" Hotch said, coming back from his thoughts.

"I asked if you were ok?" Emily asked, wondering where his mind had been, probably thinking about Beth, she thought to herself.

After they had dinner and they finished up the reports, they decided to watch a movie in Emily's living room. They had been together all day technically, and for some reason they did not realize time had flown by. It was almost eleven, and the two friends seemed happy, and they did not care about the time. Beth had called Hotch at least 15 times, and he had ignored all her calls; he just didn't want to talk to her, not tonight anyway.

When the movie was over, Emily flipped the channel and stopped at _Sex and the City_ smiling widely. Hotch just looked at her in shock...there was no way they were going to watch that show...not at all.

"Come on, Em, really?…..I am not watching this….I hate this show." He said, exasperated.

"To bad…my TV." She said, sticking out her tongue at him. Hotch smiled and reached over to grab the remote from her hands, but she quickly pulled away. He jumped from the sofa just as she smiled, jumping up and started running away with the remote in her hands. She ran toward the door, but Hotch was way faster and stronger; he grabbed her by the waist as Emily squealed and he wrestled her softly to the carpet…trying to steal the remote from her. She was laughing hysterically.

"Don't….stop…..please…." She screamed, laughing.

"Give it to me." Hotch said, grabbing both her hands with one of his strong ones and taking the remote from her. He placed it on the carpet, then turned his attention back to her. He kept tickling her, and she kept screaming and laughing uncontrollably trying to tickle him, too. Suddenly, their faces were just inches apart…her heart started beating faster than it ever had...a warm feeling in her belly that made her breath catch in her throat, a feeling she had never experienced before. Hotch could feel the butterflies in his stomach, he could feel the spark running all over his body….his heart beating a thousand beats per minute…watching her…her angelic face...and those plump, soft lips.

Then they both pulled away from each other in shock!

"I think I should go, it's late," Hotch got up from the floor, helping her up.

"Yeah…it is late….thank you for everything? She said, moving away...going to the kitchen.

He said goodbye to her from behind the counter like the counter was a barrier between them, then he left.

That night, as he was back in the office of his apartment, he thought to himself, 'what the hell was wrong with him, he had a girlfriend, and Emily was just a friend that was all, she was in a relationship and she was in love with her boyfriend, they both had made their choices and they needed to live with that', Only, the one thing he could think about right now was her lips…

Emily lay on her bed awake….wasn't she supposed to be thinking about her boyfriend, the one she was supposed to be in love with? What the hell had happened today, Hotch was her friend only, and he was super in love with Beth,.and on the top of that, he was her boss. Okay, she needed to realize that she was just thinking too much about this. it was a mistake that just happens…that was why Hotch had pulled away immediately, this couldn't be …he was in love, he had chosen to be with Beth, and she was with Andrew, and her boyfriend was a great guy...right?


	5. Chapter 5

The Choices We Make

Chapter 5

So, here we are with one more chapter of this new story. Thanks for the reviews and keep in mind that I am a Hotch and Prentiss fan, and I love happy endings, so just be patient as the story develops, I promise it will be worth it.

Please, also keep in mind that not all credit belongs to me. Please don't forget to also thank SouthunLady, who has been in charge of grammar and helping me correct the stories. Her help really means the world to me. Thank you sooo much, SouthunLady, we are both working on the story so be sure to be thankful to her. (And I love doing it.)

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As he kissed her passionately, she closed her eyes while his hands wandered around her body, she felt him deepening the kiss making her moan softly. Then, his hand moved underneath her blouse to cup her covered breast, and then his lips moved to her neck biting her softly with his teeth…with her eyes closed, her mind moved to that night….his lips finally moved to her mouth kissing her and devouring her mouth…..then to her neck while his hand stroked her breast and pinched her hard nipples…all she had on mind right now was Hotch and how wet thinking of him make her feel….how his hands would feel….his lips over her warm skin…

"Em?" Andrew whispered softly...she still had her eyes closed.

"Emily…" He called again, they were on her bed making out, and for some reason, her mind was somewhere else. She opened her eyes, and she realized she was in her room with Andrew….then, what the hell was she doing thinking about Hotch when she was trying to make love with her boyfriend!

"Are you ok?" Andrew asked, she had been acting weird lately.

"Yeah …I'm fine…I'm sorry….I just…" She stammered…."I just don't feel well, I'm sorry." She said, moving away from him and getting up from the bed.

"What is wrong with you, Emily?" Andrew asked, exasperated, every time he tried to be intimate with her, she seemed to be somewhere else.

"Nothing, I have a headache. I'm sorry," She said. She walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Andrew just sat there looking at her with confusion in his eyes, had he done something to upset her? Was it her job? He understood how hard her job was and how sometimes this could traumatize her but she just seemed out of it today.

Emily opened the sink rinsing her face with cold water trying to calm herself down, what the hell was wrong with her…she had a boyfriend, and there she was fantasizing about her boss, this was completely inappropriate, she needed to get him out of her head. She couldn't do this, she had to stop thinking about him…but she couldn't, for some reason, her mind keep going back to that night…..their lips so close to each other….but this couldn't be, no way…she washed her face one more time promising she would forget about Hotch completely….he was her friend, that was all.

Meanwhile, Hotch was at the supermarket with Beth and Jack. They were grocery shopping since the team was supposed to have a picnic at the park the next day. It was Hotch's idea to do the picnic...the last case they had worked was extremely hard, and he wanted to do something fun for the team since he had Jack that weekend and Beth was with them. As they were walking through the aisles, his mind was wondering around the same image he had been dreaming about for the last two weeks. Her face inches from him, her soft tentative lips doing sinful things to him…the image of Emily Prentiss naked underneath him had been driving him crazy. He had to stop thinking about her; this was just wrong she was his friend, and he was her boss...this was way too wrong…..but it felt so right.

"Baby, you aren't listening." Beth shouted angrily at him, they were getting chips, and she was trying to get him to pick one kind.

"I'm sorry, honey, I'm just tired." He apologized.

"You are always tired, you never have time for me….you are always at work…..or have other excuses, I don't like this, Aaron, you never pay attention to me," She whined. She was ready to start a fight right in the middle of the supermarket.

"Beth, please, I don't want to argue right in the middle of the supermarket. I said I'm sorry."

"Sorry is not enough, Aaron, what the hell is wrong with you…..I need your attention!" She screamed.

"Beth, please lower your voice." He warned, as people was starting to look at them, Jack was close by, watching the two of them with frightened eyes.

"Enough, Beth!" Hotch almost yelled! "You are scaring Jack, and I am not going to argue in front of my son." He grabbed Jack and walked away leaving Beth alone, fuming.

The next day at the park, the team was having a great time at the picnic, they were laughing and spending time as a family, Morgan, Reid and Dave were playing football nearby and JJ, Garcia and Emily where lying on a blanket on the grass. Hotch was with Beth by the grill making hamburgers. Beth would not leave Hotch alone, not even to go to the bathroom. Henry and Jack were chasing each other around playing with water guns, it was a beautiful warm day around and they were taking advantage of it.

A few minutes later, Jack came running towards Hotch and asked for water. Emily was watching them from the grass. He was amazing to Jack, Hotch could feel Emily's eyes on him, and he turned around to smile at her...and for some reason that smile made her feel butterflies in her tummy. Then, Hotch leaned down to whisper something in Jack's ear, smiling evilly at Emily. Before Emily was aware of what was going on, Jack came running toward her with the water gun. Emily tried to get up but it was late, Jack splashed her with the gun as Emily squealed, covering herself.

"No…..Jack baby, please…" She screamed, laughing, trying to cover her face.

"Daddy told me to." Jack shouted, happily splashing her more with the water gun. Finally, Emily got up running towards Hotch.

"I hate you…..you know that?" She told Hotch, annoyed as she grabbed a towel to dry herself. Hotch kept laughing, and none of them noticed the cold, evil looks Beth was trying to send Emily. It was taking every ounce of strength Beth had to keep from jumping on Emily and killing her.

Emily walked toward the bathroom and went in without closing the door. After all, she was just going to dry herself, she didn't notice when Beth walked in behind her.

"Holy shit, you scared me!" Emily said, when she was finally aware of Beth's presence.

"You think I don't know what you're trying to do." Beth said, almost shaking."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You're trying to get in his pants…..he is mine…..and if I ever see you around him, you have no idea what I am capable of doing." She warned.

"I have no idea what are you're talking about." Emily said, she wasn't afraid of Beth.

"Oh please, don't think I'm stupid…I know the type of slut you are…but if I see you around him again, I will kill you." Beth said again. The two females were completely unaware that Jack was listening to them with a scared face.

"You know what? I'm tired of your shit...I don't know what your problem is and it's not my fault you're an insecure woman, but I hope you know that threatening a federal agent is a crime." Emily said defiantly.

With that, Jack ran away back to his dad, and Beth had no option but to leave Emily alone. When Beth came back to Hotch, Jack was just looking at her with questioning eyes.

"Hey, where were you?" Hotch asked.

"Oh, Emily and I were just chatting, it's so nice to be friends with her. She is amazing." Hotch smiled, maybe she had decided to be friends with Emily, after all, and he was happy about that. Jack, however, just looked at her, he was the only one that knew Beth was lying.

The rest of the day at the park went by fast. Emily didn't mention to anyone her encounter with Beth in the bathrooms; she wanted to leave it alone. After all, Hotch had way too many problems, and she did not want to give him anymore to handle, and she was not afraid of Beth anyway, so she would rather just forget about the incident.

When Hotch got home with Beth, it was quite late, and he told Jack to take a shower and get ready for bed. Beth had acted like the most innocent person in the world after her confrontation with Emily, and she was trying to have a romantic night with Hotch. Hotch, on his side, was happy Beth had finally decided to be friends with Emily since he wanted their relationship to work and keep his friendship with Emily.

He walked into Jack's room to put him down for bed and read him a story like he did most of the time when he was home. Jack jumped in the bed and let his dad settle his blankets all over him.

"Did you have fun at the park, buddy?" He asked, kissing his son's forehead.

"Yeah, I did. I had tons of fun with Emily." Then, he looked away remembering the scene in the bathroom. Hotch noticed right away the change in his son's behavior.

"What is it, buddy?" He asked, concerned. Jack knew he couldn't lie to his father, and that this was something he needed to tell his father...as little as Jack was, he knew when something was wrong.

"Mmm….why is Beth so mean to Emmy?" He asked, concern across his innocent face.

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked, confused.

Jack told Hotch everything that had happened at the park, except for the bad word part. He told Hotch that Beth had said mean things to Emily, and since Jack didn't know the meaning of the word, he knew it wasn't something good, so he told Hotch he didn't want to repeat what Beth had said. When Hotch told him that he must tell him every single thing, Jack leaned in to Hotch's ear to whisper the bad word because he did not want to get in trouble. Hotch was furious because he knew Jack wasn't lying especially since he didn't know those kind of words. After thanking Jack for telling him and reassuring him he would take care of it, he walked out of Jack's room and went directly upstairs. He opened the door almost slamming it.

"Hey, what is wrong?" Beth asked innocently.

"What the hell happened at the park today?" He barked.

"What are you talking about, honey?' She asked, pretending she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Don't play innocent, Beth...what happened between you and Emily?" He asked, raising his voice. Beth just rolled her eyes at him.

"Look, I don't know what she said to you…..but she is lying." Beth stated in her defense.

"She didn't say anything, Beth….I have not talked to Emily….Jack heard you….he heard everything you said to her!" Hotch shouted.

"Baby." She started...

"What the hell is the matter with you, Beth, are you crazy?" He yelled. "Emily hasn't done anything to you."

'Please, Aaron, don't think I'm stupid" She finally snapped. "Do you think I haven't noticed the way she looks at you, the way you look at her?" She screamed.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, becoming even more upset.

"She likes you…she wants to steal you away from me?" She snapped.

"You are insane, Beth…she is just my friend, that is all." Hotch said. Hotch felt like he was going to explode at any time.

"Oh, please, your friend?…I'm not stupid…..I've seen you both looking at each other. You always take her side….you are taking her side right now…you like her…..I know you do, you want to cheat on me with her." Beth said, starting to cry.

"Beth, you are acting insane and making things up…..SHE IS MY FRIEND, that is all….I don't have to give you any explanations of anything else." He walked out of his room, but Beth followed him.

"Are you sleeping with her?" She asked.

"BETH, STOP, THIS IS ENOUGH…YOU ARE OUT OF CONTROL!" Hotch shouted. Beth stopped screaming and looked at Hotch, knowing that he was furious.

"Okay, I'm sorry, baby ….I just." She approached him, trying to hug him, but he pulled away.

"I think that you should go home…..I can't do this anymore. We're through. I should have seen through your machinations before now. You need to plan on coming over and getting anything that is your's one day when Jack isn't here. I don't want him around anyone who isn't an honest and trustworthy person." It was all Hotch could do to be civil to her considering all that he had discovered about her that night.

As soon as Hotch said that they were no longer a couple, Beth ran to him and threw her arms around his neck pleading and crying and hanging onto him to give her one more chance to prove how much she loved him, and when he tried to move away from her, she just clung tighter to him to the point he was dragging her through the house. What Beth didn't anticipate was Hotch moving toward the front door and taking her outside depositing her by the side of her car, telling her to call him when she was planning to come pick up what she had left at his house.

With that, he returned to his room locking the door leaving no choice for Beth but to leave. When he heard Beth's car leaving, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number,

"Prentiss?" Emily answered without looking at the caller id.

"Hey Em, it's me." Hotch said.

"Hey…are you ok?" Emily asked, concerned. "You sound agitated."

"No, I...um…I just got in a fight with Beth," He confessed, sitting on the bed.

"What happened?" She asked, feeling anger run through her veins, God, she hated that woman so much and how fake she was.

"I should be asking you that, Em….what happened at the park today….and don't pretend you don't know what I am talking about….Jack heard it all…"

Emily just closed her eyes and exhaled, she didn't want to tell him about it she just wanted to forget it.

"It doesn't matter …..anymore." She said.

"It matters to me, Em."

"Do you want me to come over." Knowing that he needed a friend right now.

Hotch thought about it for one second, his head was pounding, and he was exhausted, but Beth was right about something, he couldn't hide it anymore even if he tried. He had tried to fight those feelings…..but he couldn't. he felt something for Emily, and it wasn't friendship.

"Yes….please." He said, running his hands through his hair.

"Okay, I'm on my way." Emily said, then hung up the phone.


	6. Chapter 6

The Choices We Make

Chapter 6

It was very late when Emily knocked on Hotch's apartment door, but she was quite concerned about his phone call. All he had said was that he had gotten into a fight with Beth because of her, and that was exactly the reason she did not want to tell anyone about what had happened in the bathroom with Beth. She just knew it was going to create a lot of problems. But, she really didn't want to talk about it, she just wanted to comfort her best friend and be there for him. Hearing the knock, Hotch opened the door letting her in. She immediately noticed that he smiled at her, but his smile was quite short.

"Hey..." He greeted her, moving away to let her in.

"Hey." She said, as he pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. Emily just stayed in his embrace for a few minutes knowing that he needed that hug. When they pulled away from one another, he immediately walked toward the kitchen.

"Are you ok?" She asked, concerned.

"I made some coffee, do you want some?" He answered, avoiding her question. Emily knew better than to object...he would talk when he was ready to talk.

"Sure, I would love one." She could tell by his behavior that he was furious, and she wanted to be there, at least, even if it was just her company he wanted. She knew he would eventually open up to her, and she was going to be there with him for as long as that took him.

Hotch came over to the sofa with two steaming cups of coffee, Emily just sat next to him.

"So, Jack had a great time at the park today." Hotch said, trying to talk about anything but what just happened with Beth.

"Really? I'm so glad...I know how important it is for you to make Jack happy." She said as she smiled, squeezing his hand.

"I think he had a blast because of you." He said, smiling widely for the first time that night.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked, confused.

"You know my son adores you, Emily...you are amazing to him…you should see how his face lights up when he sees you, or even talks about you...he can't stop talking about you." He stopped talking to look at her, as she was looking back at him in shock without knowing what to say.

"I don't think I ever thanked you for that...you are so good with him...probably better than I am." He confessed.

"I don't think that is true, Jack loves you so much." She said, trying to make him feel good.

"I know he does…I just mean…..you have been incredibly amazing to my son since the first day you've known him….I don't think I've ever seen Jack smile the way he does when he is around you." He said, smiling at her and looking at her so intensely that it make her nervous.

"Well, I love your son...I think he has stolen my heart." She said honestly.

"How come you never had kids?" Hotch asked all of a sudden, "You are great with them. I've seen you even on cases, you're just amazing around them." It was true, it was something he so admired about her: it was how wonderful she was around kids.

"I don't know...I just never…thought about it."

'I think you would be an amazing mother...I can see it already..."

Emily smiled at him, and her hand moved to his knee rubbing it in an affectionate way.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really, but I know I should." He said, looking down to the floor.

"We broke up, Em." He confessed.

"Oh my God, I am so sorry. I...it was nothing really." Emily said, with her mouth open in shock

"It wasn't the first time, was it?" He asked seriously.

"What?"

"It wasn't the first time that she said something to you…right?" He asked again, looking at her in his unit chief mode.

"It doesn't matter…really."

"Yes, it does, Emily...she had no right."

"Look, she is just jealous, she loves you, I understand that…I think you should talk her and fix things between you two. "

"NO!" He stated firmly.

"Aaron, I don't think..." She started, but he cut her off...

"No, Emily, we did not just break up because of you, we...I don't love her, Em...I tried, but I can't…." He confessed. Emily just looked at him in shock...she thought that he was crazy about Beth.

"Things were not ok...I wasn't happy...she was way too possessive and jealous." He stopped. He couldn't just blurt out that he had been dreaming about her. About doing all kinds of things with her.

"I'm sorry, Aaron, I never meant to be the cause of any of these..." She said sadly.

"Don't, this isn't your fault, Em….and you should have told me about it...it was just not going to work anyway."

"Are you hungry?" He asked, changing the subject…" I can make you a sandwich that you are going to love." He said, getting up from the sofa.

"As long as you eat something." She said, following him to the kitchen.

She sat on a stool at the kitchen bar while he cooked, He was definitely in a better mood, and that made her smile. She hated to see him upset; she wasn't sure what had happened with Beth, but for some odd reason she was happy. As selfish as that sounded, she was happy that he had broken up with his girlfriend, and she did not know why. She just wanted the best for him, and she was sure Beth was not the best for him.

After they had dinner, the couple sat at the sofa again to talk. It was almost 3 am, and they had not seen how late it was. Usually, when they were together, time went by so fast, they didn't even feel it. Hotch had gotten so attached to her that it was almost impossible not to spend time with her. He had not realized what his true feelings were for her until Beth had said something to him. She was right, he was in love with Emily Prentiss, his best friend, his subordinate, and he did not know how to deal with it or what to do about it. They were sitting and laughing on the sofa about old anecdotes. He had placed a blanket over them to cover their laps, and Emily had taken off her shoes, and now she was cuddled up on his sofa all comfy laughing at whatever he was telling her.

"OMG, I think I should go, it's super late." Emily exclaimed, looking at her watch.

"No way, I'm not letting you drive this late, you're staying here, you can sleep in the guest room. I'll make breakfast in the morning." He said sweetly.

"Ok, deal, but I want pancakes with chocolate chips." She said, playing around.

"You got it." He said, showing his dimples.

"Come on, let's get you to bed." He said, pulling her hand gently and helping her up from the sofa.

They walked together into the guest room; he set up the bed for her pulling extra blankets from the closet knowing how cold she was usually. Emily smiled at him sweetly.

"Ok, you're all set, Ma'am, call me if you need anything." Hotch said, arranging the pillows.

"I will, sir, thank you, I'll be comfy with all these blankets."

"Thank you, for everything, Em." He said, looking at her intensely and pulling her to him for another hug.

"I'll always be here for you." She said, wrapping her arms around him, tightening the hug. However, neither one of them moved away from each other, they stayed like that for a very long time. They didn't want to pull away, it just felt so good, so warm, the feeling in both their tummies was wonderful. Hotch pulled away just enough to look at her…their eyes connected and all of a sudden, he brought his hand to her chin, and he lifted her face gently...to look directly into her soul.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" He said, in a tone that made Emily shiver.

"Aaron." She started, but she didn't know what to say she was in such shock.

"I can't anymore, Em….I can't pretend anymore." He said

Emily just looked at him in shock...what was he talking about. Suddenly, he leaned down capturing her lips. He pulled her closer to him, her lips soft and tentative. At first, he thought she was going to pull away and slap him on the face, but she didn't. She opened her mouth to let in his tongue, feeling her warm mouth and lips. Their lips melted in a passionate kiss, neither of them had any control over the situation, fireworks started exploding, Emily just closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around his neck and breathing in his manly scent. The kiss turned even more passionate, and Hotch's hand moved to her hips, keeping her in place…Emily moaned softly in his mouth and finally they pulled away.

"Aaron…I..." She said in a shaky voice.

"Don't, Emily, don't fight it, I can't pretend anymore that I don't like you, that I don't want you. I can't stop thinking about you, I just can't." He captured her mouth again, this time fiercely and more passionately. Suddenly, he moved to the bed with her, lying her down softly and kissing and biting at her neck and collarbone. Emily could feel herself becoming soaked…she had to stop him, but she couldn't. His lips captured her mouth a third time, and their passion overtook them. Hotch moved his hand underneath her blouse, feeling her soft skin and her lace covered breast. Emily finally gained some sense and knew if she didn't stop him now, she was sure she wasn't going to be able to stop him ever.

"Aaron, stop….please." She said, pushing him away.

"I can't do this, you...you are my boss...this is just wrong." She stammered.

I don't care, Em…I don't care anymore...I want you, and I want to be with you. I was so stupid. I didn't realize how I felt about you." He said, trying to move closer to her.

"Aaron, please, I can't." She said, one more time, moving away from him. "I can't do this to Andrew…it's not fair….it's not right." She said.

" You don't love him, Emily, you're not happy with him, I want to be with you. Please give me a chance, please." He begged.

"No, I can't." She said, shaking her head.

"You don't feel anything for me at all?" He asked, hurt

"No, I don't, I'm sorry...I have to go...I can't stay here, I'm sorry." She said, running away and going downstairs. She grabbed her shoes and the rest of her things and walked out of his apartment.

She got into her car, driving away as fast as she could with tears rolling down her cheeks. She did feel something for him, she was crazy about him, she was sure of that, but this couldn't be. She wasn't going to break a man's heart, a man that had been wonderful and amazing to her. She loved Hotch more than she ever thought she could love anyone; she had never felt those butterflies in her stomach with anyone before, only when Hotch kissed her and when he touched her. But she couldn't let her feelings for him get in the way of her relationship with Andrew. Andrew was in love with her, and she couldn't hurt him.

She got in her apartment and ran upstairs immediately jumping on her bed and hugging her pillow crying. She had to resign herself to the feelings she felt for Hotch...she had to. No matter how much that hurt her.

Hotch sat on his bed with his head in his hands...he had finally gotten the courage to tell her how he felt about her, and she had run away, saying she didn't feel anything for him at all, but he knew she was lying...he knew her, the way she had kissed him, the way she had touched him…she felt something for him, no matter how much she tried to fight it.

The next evening, Emily was at a restaurant having dinner with Andrew. She had not seen him in a few weeks, and he said he had something special for her. They were at a very nice restaurant, one of the most exclusive and expensive ones in D.C. He had ordered probably the most expensive bottle of wine, and Emily was trying her hardest to not think about Hotch and have a good time with Andrew. Once they had finished dinner, they sat there just talking; although Emily's mind was somewhere else, she was pretending to be very happy and smiling. Emily knew that even though she wasn't in love with Andrew, he was a great guy, and she couldn't hurt him. He didn't deserve that, she had to sacrifice for him even if it meant she had to sacrifice her love for Hotch.

"Em, you have no idea how happy you have made me all this time." Andrew said, taking her hand and kissing her palm. Emily smiled at him...little did Andrew know that she was fighting back tears that were threatening to fall down her cheeks.

"I'm absolutely in love with you...and I'm sure that I want to spend the rest of my life with you." All of sudden, Andrew knelt down in front of her, pulling a beautiful sparkling engagement ring from his pocket.

"Emily Prentiss, will you marry me?" Andrew asked, with pleading eyes. Emily just sat there looking at him in shock.


	7. Chapter 7

The Choices We Make

Chapter 7

So, here we are with one more chapter of this new story. Thanks for the reviews, and keep in mind that I am a Hotch and Prentiss fan, and I love happy endings, so just be patient as the story develops, I promise it will be worth it.

Please, also keep in mind that not all credit belongs to me. Please don't forget to also thank SouthunLady, who has been in charge of grammar and helping me correct the stories. Her help really means the world to me. Thank you sooo much, SouthunLady, we are both working on the story so be sure to be thankful to her. (And I love doing it, signed SouthunLady.)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++7

Emily was sitting on the plane on the way back home from a case with a raging headache. She couldn't wait to get home and get into her bed and forget that the world even existed. It wasn't just the case that was bothering her...Andrew, her boyfriend, had proposed to her a few nights ago. Now, for any other woman, this would be a wonderful thing, right, a successful, well-respected who was good looking, sweet, romantic, he was just the perfect man, and he treated her like a princes, so what was wrong with her, what else could she ask for. Well, why in the hell when he proposed to her did she just sit there looking like an idiot without being able to respond?

_Flashback:_

_Andrew knelt down in front of her, pulling a beautiful sparkling engagement ring from his pocket._

"_Emily Prentiss, will you marry me?" Andrew asked, with pleading eyes. Emily just sat there looking at him in shock. She couldn't believe this was happening to her, not now…..she had not stopped thinking about last night…she had made out with her boss…the man she was in love with.._

"_Emily?" Andrew called, still kneeling on the floor._

"_Omg, Andrew…I...don't know what to say…I…." She stammered._

"_I love you, Emily, more than anything in life." He added. _

"_I know you do, Andrew…it's just…I wasn't expecting this." She said, because she didn't know what else to say._

"_Is it too soon?" Andrew asked, getting up from the floor and sitting back in the chair taking her hand._

"_Because if it is, I can wait, Emily...I can't wait as long as you want me to….I will do anything for you?"_

"_Oh, Andrew, you are one of the most amazing guys I have ever met...but, I am not sure if I am ready for marriage just yet." She said, trying not to break his heart._

"_I'm not saying no...I just...I need time, please...let me just think about it, please." She added when she saw the sadness on his face._

"_Of course, baby, take all the time you need, I'll wait for you no matter how long that is." He kissed her lips softly and smiled at her._

_Emily smiled back, although she was faking her smile. This was supposed to be the best night of her life, and yet, she was about to burst into tears. She couldn't do this, she had found out the night before just how much in love she was with her boss, just after he kissed her. She could still taste him on her lips, and she could still smell him when she closed her eyes. What the hell was wrong with her? But, she knew a relationship with Hotch would never be possible._

So, the day after Andrew had proposed, they got called on a case in Nevada, and she couldn't be happier to be going away from DC and the situation there. Only she didn't realize that everything would get worse the minute she saw

again because he couldn't take his eyes off her, and that made things even harder for her. She couldn't stop thinking about him. They were on a case, and of course, they were being professional, but after all, she was a profiler and a very good one, so she could tell he was devouring her with his eyes, and that turned her on so much, she couldn't even concentrate on work properly. Finally, she decided to tell her best friend, JJ, about the proposal, asking her for some advice, and, of course, JJ was ecstatic. She kept trying to persuade Emily to tell Andrew yes because she thought Andrew was a great guy and Emily was insane if she turned him down. The problem was, JJ was so overjoyed that she couldn't stop talking about it, and Morgan overheard everything. The minute Morgan heard, she knew she was screwed, Of course, he did not do it intentionally, but soon after that, Hotch heard, too, and now Emily was sure she had lost her best friend forever.

_Flashback: _

"_Come on, Emily, what is there to think about?….are you insane?...he is perfect...you have to say yes." JJ insisted for the 100__th__ time that day._

"_I don't know, JJ, I've already told you, I just don't feel it." Emily exhaled exasperatedly. The team was at the Nevada police station working on the last victim's profile trying to get a lead to catch their unsub._

_Emily, you don't feel what? Are you crazy, you just got proposed to by the cutest and richest guy in town, not to mention he's incredibly amazing, and you want to think about it?" JJ asked curiously, but Morgan had just walked in, and now her secret was out._

"_Andrew proposed to you?" Morgan asked, in shock. Emily just shot a cold look in JJ's direction, "Thanks, JJ."_

"_And, she wants to think about it?" JJ retorted. _

"_You are not serious are you?" Morgan asked._

"_Emily, this is the best guy you have ever dated...please tell me you are going to marry him?"_

_Unfortunately for Emily and to make things even worse, Morgan wasn't the only one that had heard their conversation...Hotch stormed into the room, and Emily could tell he was furious, and that he was never going to talk to her again._

"_I'm sorry, but we have three victims dead; I'm sure that saving the next victim's life is more important than Prentiss's personal life. Everyone, back to work now." And he stormed out of the room, leaving everyone in shock. After that, Hotch did not say a single word to Emily the entire time they were in Nevada, not even about the case which wasn't like him at all, he was very professional._

So now, Emily watched through the window of the jet, she closed her eyes to relax and took a deep breath...she was fighting so hard to keep her tears at bay. Hotch had not said one word to her since he had found out about the proposal, and she was afraid he would never talk to her again. She was hurting so much, she had realized she loved Hotch more than she ever loved anyone, but she was not sure he would ever get to know her feelings, and now, she thought he hated her, which was probably for the best for now.

She opened her eyes and glanced up where Hotch was sitting; he was looking at a case file and he still seemed to be furious. Emily just sat there looking at him sadly without knowing what to do. She didn't want to hurt him either, because she loved him, but she didn't know what to do. There was Andrew to consider, also. She was in such a huge dilemma, but right now, she just wanted to disappear.

Hotch looked up from his file to look at her, and their eyes connected for a second, and he looked away from her, but it was all Emily needed to see. His eyes had told her he hated her.

After they landed in DC and when Emily got to her house her eyes, were swollen and puffy from crying all the way home. All she wanted to do was get in bed and not think about anything else. She knew she had lost Aaron forever, and she didn't know what she could do about that. She hung up her coat and put away her go bag, and after taking a very long and comforting shower, she went downstairs to put the kettle on to make herself some hot camomile tea to help her sleep, hoping it would make her feel better. She was placing the cup on a plate when the doorbell rang. She didn't know who it was, since Andrew was supposed to be working out of town tonight. She looked through the peephole to see Hotch standing on the other side of the door. She sighed...he was the last person who she wanted to see, but she was sure he would not leave until she opened let him in. She opened the door for him giving him a cold look.

"What do you want, Hotch?" She asked, coldly.

"We need to talk." He said, walking past her, going inside her apartment without waiting for her to invite him in. She rolled her eyes while closing the door.

"About what...is this about a case?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You know what this is about, Emily." He snapped.

"Hotch….I," Emily started.

"You cannot marry him." He stated firmly.

"Excuse me?" Emily asked, offended.

"Do you even know him well enough…you've been with him what, eight months?" He asked, getting angry.

"He is a good man?" Emily defended Andrew.

"Are you sure about that, Emily….because you cannot tell that about someone in such a short period of time...what if he is a serial killer or a rapist?" He asked, beginning to raise his voice.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Emily asked, getting upset.

"You don't even know him, you have no idea who he is…and yes, he is a wonderful man, so I am considering it." Emily continued.

Suddenly, Hotch approached her and stopped just a few steps from her.

"Do you love him?"

"Hotch, don't do this please." Emily begged

"ANSWER ME!" He screamed.

Emily didn't answer. She just looked at him without being able to respond. Hotch pulled her by the waist close to him their faces just inches apart.

"Do you love him the way you love me?" He asked, knowing her feelings and feeling her shiver against his touch.

"Aaron, please..." She tried to move away.

"Does he make you smile the way you smile when you are with me?" He asked, almost in a whisper. Emily couldn't respond. He tightened his arms around her waist firmly pulling her closer to him.

He captured her mouth in a kiss, and Emily lost control of everything as their mouths melted in a passionate kiss. Emily could feel the electrical current running through her body and she lost sense of everything around them. They stayed like that, kissing for what seemed like forever, and when they finally pulled away they were both gasping for air. However, Hotch still held her firmly in his arms.

"Does he make you feel like that when he kisses you?" He asked, seductively. Emily just stared at him intensely, Hotch moved to her neck kissing her and pulling her earlobe into his mouth.

"I want to make love to you…I want to make you shiver under my touch...I want to show you how I am the only one that can make you feel this way." He said in a husky tone.

"Aaron, we can't do this, please let me go." Emily said, feeling herself become wet under his touch.

"I love you, Emily...I have for a long time." Emily looked at him in shock. She couldn't believe what he was saying.

"Don't marry him….please give me a chance….let me make you happy." He begged.

"Please, Aaron." She said, as tears fell from her eyes.

"I love you." He stated more firmly.

"I love you, too." Emily finally confessed. "But, I need to think about this please."

"Em, please, baby…" Aaron said, running his thumbs over her cheeks.

"Aaron, please….if you want me to consider this, I need you to let me think, and I cannot do it with you here." She stated.

"Okay, I'll wait for you however long that is." He pulled her to him for another passionate kiss. Then he left, leaving Emily even more confused than she was. She needed to make a decision, and she needed to make one soon. She went to bed with a million things in her head hoping that in the morning she would feel better and could think with a much clearer head.

Meanwhile, Aaron had just returned from seeing Emily, and he was happy even if she had just said that she would think about it, but she had admitted that she felt something for him and that gave him hope. He was about to go into his bedroom when the doorbell at his apartment rang. He ran to his door hoping it was Emily telling him she had made a decision. It was a big surprise to him when he saw who was on the other side of the door.

"Beth, what are you doing here?" He asked, in a rude tone.

"May I come in?" She asked.

"No, you cannot." He said, firmly. "What do you want?"

"I need to talk to you." Beth insisted.

"We have nothing to talk about, Beth, please leave." He was about to close the door.

"Oh, I am afraid we do, Aaron, I'm pregnant." Beth said.


	8. Chapter 8

The Choices We Make

Chapter 8

It had been two weeks since Emily had told Hotch she would think about her answer to Andrew, and her answer to give Hotch a chance. Emily had also told Hotch she was going to take two weeks off from work because she needed to get totally away to think, and she couldn't do it around him. She called Hotch a few hours after he left her apartment telling him she was going to go away, and that she would give him an answer when she came back. That night was the same night Beth came to his apartment telling him she was pregnant with his child. Of course, Hotch wasn't stupid, and he did not buy it at first, even though she had all the papers to confirm her pregnancy. He still did not trust her, not after what she had done, anyway.

Next day, Hotch took Beth to a private doctor, and his worst nightmare came true. Beth was pregnant, and he felt like his whole world was collapsing around him. She had told him she was taking care of herself and was on the pill...how could he had been so stupid as to trust Beth with something so delicate, now, here he was trying to make a decision on what to do. Of course, he didn't want to be with Beth, that was the first thing he had told her...he then told her that he would be there for the baby and be responsible for the baby, but he wanted nothing to do with her, especially after she had gotten pregnant and lied about her birth control. Beth, of course, had cried, whined, and thrown many fits, but Hotch was too old for that kind of crap, and he told her he wasn't going to put up with her anymore. Not especially now that Emily had finally told him that she loved him, even if she was still working on making a decision, he would wait for her.

The problem now was that he was not sure how he was going to explain to Emily about the pregnancy...he did not want to lie to her...he never would, but he couldn't tell her right away either because it would probably screw everything up with her if he didn't explain things properly to Emily. He needed to think; he needed to find a way to be with Emily and make things work with the baby. Hotch also knew that Emily was very well aware of the type of person Beth was, and he was hoping that Emily would understand Beth had trapped him into a pregnancy. Of course, it was going to be hard for Emily to have to deal with the fact that his ex-psycho girlfriend was pregnant with his baby, that was not going to be easy for either of them. But Hotch was sure of something now, he loved Emily more than anything in this world, not more than Jack, of course, but as much as Jack in a different way. In fact, he was sure he loved Emily more than he had ever loved Haley.

The first time he met Emily, he was defensive and hard on her, but once he got to know her, he realized how incredible she was. Emily was probably one of the best, if not the BEST agent, he had. She was very intelligent and educated, she spoke several languages, and she had experience in several different fields; she was excellent with children since one of her degrees was child advocacy. In addition to all of this, she was responsible, driven and determined. She was also the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, she had an amazing body, she was thin and very physically fit, but she could take down a 200 pound man if she was pissed. The best part about everything was her amazing heart and care for others. She would do anything for anyone she loved, that was just a fact.

Emily Prentiss had stolen not only his heart, but his son's heart as well. She was his best friend and his saving grace; he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life if it was possible, and he would do anything to prove that to her. But right now, he needed to figure out a way to make everything in their lives okay. How in the world was he going to tell Emily about Beth's pregnancy? Hotch wanted to kill someone when he found out Beth was, in fact, pregnant, if he ever regretted anything in his life, it was ever getting involved with her and trusting her. Now, here he was stuck with a psychopath who was carrying his child. Of course, he would never make her have an abortion...he was a man, and after all, this child had his blood. He had already decided that he would fight for custody of this baby, no matter what that took him, but he would never, in his entire life, have anything else to do with Beth, no matter if she was carrying his child, he would be there for the baby, but he wanted nothing to do with her ever again.

So here he was, sitting in his office chair thinking how in the hell was he going to fix this mess. His mind was also thinking about Emily...she was supposed to come back to work today, she was supposed to give him an answer today. What if she had chosen Andrew? He could never live with that, he could never watch the love of his life marry someone else. He was praying Emily would give him a chance. His head hurt so much from all the stress and thinking that he could hardly concentrate on anything else, he had not told anyone about Emily, or Beth's pregnancy, not even Dave, his best friend. He couldn't just talk to anyone, not now anyway. Just as he opened his desk drawer and grabbed the bottle of Advil to take some, a knock on his door caught his attention, he told whomever was on the other side of the door to come in as he swallowed the pain killers. Emily Prentiss walked into his office, and he found himself unable to breathe, think, or do anything; he wasn't sure if it was the nerves and stress of telling her about Beth, or the impatience of knowing what her answer was, or simply the fact that she was wearing a tight black skirt that made her ass look like heaven itself, and a light blue V-neck blouse that had a very revealing cleavage, shoes with 4-inch heels with her hair down around her shoulders in soft curls. Okay, now, he was having trouble in his pants…

"Hey..." That was all he was able to say.

"Hey, I just wanted to let you know I'm back." Emily said, smiling, closing the door behind her. Hotch got up from his desk, unable to content himself, he walked toward the brunette and shoved her to the closed door wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to him for a passionate and fiery kiss.

Emily was taken aback by him, and before she could say anything else, he had her against the door devouring her mouth passionately. Emily didn't try to stop him; instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and reciprocated the kiss. They were lucky the blinds in his office were closed, because by the way he was kissing her, they both would have lost their jobs if anyone had walked in the bullpen. When he finally freed her mouth, they were both gasping for air.

"Aaron…wait stop…..not at work… " She hissed when he tried to attack her mouth again. Hotch stopped kissing her, but he realized her arms were still around his neck.

"Wait, does that mean you have decided?" He asked, smiling deeply, the first time in two weeks. Emily smiled and nodded, pulling him to her for a soft but long kiss. Her lips and tongue tasted great against his mouth, a mixture of mint and coffee.

"Yes….I want to be with you…..I know it's crazy, but….I …love you, too, and I want this." She said, still in his arms.

Hotch did not respond, he just captured her mouth again more passionately, and his hands moved to her ass bringing her closer to him and pressing her against his firm body. He moved to her neck, biting her lightly, making her hotter and wetter than ever. But, once again, Emily stopped him before he could leave any visible marks.

"Aaron, wait, please…" She said, pushing him away. Hotch looked at her confused.

"We are at work, mister, and I haven't talked to Andrew, so technically what we're doing is still cheating." She said softly, they had put some distance between them, but they were still in each other's arms.

"But, you will end things with him, right?" Hotch asked.

"Yes, I'll talk to him tonight, I've already told you I want to be with you." She said, looking at him and smiling.

"And then, I can come over and make you mine?" Hotch asked, desperately trying to kiss her again. Emily laughed.

"Yes, but for now, behave Aaron Hotchner. I have to get to work before we're in trouble." She said, moving away from him and smoothing her hair.

"Okay, Agent Prentiss, thank you for notifying me of you return," He said, as Emily opened the door, she rolled her eyes at him and walked towards her desk with a smile bigger than her face.

Emily sat at her desk since she had tons of paperwork and files to work through because she had been off for two weeks. She was smiling widely although she had an enormous pile of files and reports to write. She had decided that her heart belonged to Hotch, and no one else, She took time away to think about her options and as much as she tried to deny it, she had been in love with Aaron for longer than she cared to admit. He made her smile and he made her happy, and he was right about something...no man had ever made her feel the way Hotch did when he kissed her. She didn't want to hurt Andrew, but she couldn't lie to herself, or Andrew, any longer. She finally gained enough courage to pull out her phone and call him.

"Hello, beautiful." Andrew answered the phone.

"Hey, I ..uh, I just got back." She started.

"I am so happy, Em, you have no idea how much I missed you." Emily had not told Andrew where she was, she had just told him she was going away on work matters, and that she would use the time to think about the proposal and give him an answer when she returned.

"Listen, I..I need to talk to you...um...do you want to come over tonight?" She said, hesitantly, she had no idea how she was going to end things with him, but she had to.

"Of course, is everything okay, baby, you don't sound okay." Andrew asked.

"Yeah, I just,...we really need to talk."

"Okay, baby, we'll talk tonight, whatever it is, we can fix it."

"See you tonight." Emily said, hanging up the phone.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Emily was so loaded down with work, that she spent most of the day working on files and getting caught up. At lunch time, Garcia, Morgan, Reid and JJ all went to have lunch, and Emily decided to stay behind, partly because she wanted to finish all her work and partly because she did not want to be questioned by a group of profilers about where she had been and why she had gone. Hotch excused himself to go to lunch, too, and when he returned the team had not yet returned. Emily wasn't at her desk, so he left a sandwich on her desk from her favorite restaurant along with a cup of coffee and a single red rose. When Emily returned from the bathroom, she saw the food, the coffee and the rose, and she smiled to herself; she picked up the rose, smelling it, and glancing at his office; He seemed to be deeply concentrated on work; she smiled, thinking she had made the right decision as she put her rose in her drawer since she did not wanted anyone seeing it, then she opened the sandwich and started eating it while doing work.

Around five o'clock, the amazing day Emily was having was about to be over when Beth Clemons walked inside the bullpen. She quickly saw Emily sitting at her desk, and she walked toward her with an evil smile on her face.

"Hello, Agent Prentiss," Beth greeted, smiling at Emily who was writing her reports.

Emily turned around to see who'd call her name and she was in shock to see Beth standing there in the bullpen...what the hell was she doing there!

"Beth, what are you doing here?" She said, trying to sound as polite as she could.

"Oh, I'm here to see my boyfriend, or should I say, future husband?" Beth glared at Emily.

"What?" Emily asked, shocked.

"Oh, didn't Aaron tell you guys? I'm pregnant, and we're going to get married?" She added, smiling at the shock on Emily's face. Just as she finished the words, Hotch looked up from his desk to see Beth standing there. His heart started beating so fast he could hardly breathe, and he ran out of his office,..he had to stop Beth from telling her.

"Beth, what are you doing here?" He asked, rudely, but it was too late, Emily knew...he could see it on her face.

"Oh, honey, I was telling her about our baby…she is so happy for us." She added.

Emily just looked at Hotch. She could feel the tears on her cheeks...she couldn't believe this, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She quickly grabbed her purse and coat, and before anyone said anything, she looked at Hotch, her eyes and cheeks full of tears.

"Congratulations to you, too." She said, turning around and walking away.

"What the hell is wrong with you! I told you I want nothing to do with you!" Hotch screamed at Beth, and he turned around and ran chasing after Emily.

He caught up with her at the elevators.

"Emily, wait, please let me explain?"

"Explain what ?" She asked, angrily.

"Em, please,…it's not what you think. Will you please let me explain. I need you to please let me explain." He begged.

"Oh, it's not? Is she pregnant?" She asked, angrily.

"Yes." Hotch said, defeated

"Is it yours?"

"Yes, I assume it is." He added sadly.

"Then, there is nothing to talk about…congratulations, Hotch" She said, tears rolling down her cheeks. Just in that minute, the elevator doors opened, and he couldn't say anything else as no other than Strauss walked out of the elevator.

"Oh, Agent Hotchner, I am glad I caught you, we need to talk." She said, acknowledging Emily, Hotch nodded and turned to look at Emily who had already gotten on the elevator. They looked at each other for a brief second before the elevators door closed, but even then he knew he had lost her, he had not even gotten a chance to win her yet, and he had lost her. He felt himself breaking inside and had a difficult time keeping tears from rolling down his cheeks. He could barely keep his attention on what Strauss was saying.

Emily spent the rest of the evening crying in her apartment and thinking how she could had been so stupid to believe in him, to believe that he felt something for her. There she was all exited and ready to end her relationship with Andrew to be with Aaron, and he was going to have a child with Beth and marry her. How could he have done this to her…what did he want...to sleep with her, and then dump her like a piece of trash? She just couldn't believe Hotch, the man she was in love with and thought was the best man in the world, had played with her like that.

A short while later, her doorbell rang, and it was Andrew. She had completely forgotten he was coming over; she quickly wiped her eyes and tried to look normal, although it was going to be really difficult because she had been crying for a while. She went to open the door putting on her 'I'm okay' mask,

"Hey." She opened the door to see Andrew standing there with a huge bouquet of flowers and her favorite chocolates.

"Hey, baby." He said, as he walked inside the apartment.

He handed her the flowers and the chocolates and kissed her forehead.

"Oh, Andrew, you shouldn't have." She said, smiling, although her eyes were battling the tears.

"Of course, I should have, that is the least I can do." He said, kissing her lips softly.

"Are you okay, Em?" He asked, seeing the redness and puffiness of her eyes.

"Yes, I am." She lied. "I think I'm coming down with something, or maybe it's allergies, but come on in and sit down." She said, as she lead him to the living room.

"Do you want coffee? She asked nervously.

"Sure, coffee is fine." Andrew accepted, noticing there was something odd about her behavior.

Emily walked toward the kitchen to start the coffee, Andrew just watched her, he didn't need to be a profiler to know there was something very wrong with his girlfriend. He got up from the sofa, and he followed her into the kitchen and stopped in front of her grabbing her hands softly.

"What is going on, Emily…just tell me, what do you want to talk about?' He asked, seriously.

"Nothing is wrong, I swear." Emily lied...again.

"I wanted to talk to you because..." She stopped, taking a deep breath.

"I have thought about your proposal,…and I have decided to accept it." She said.

Andrew looked at her in shock.

"Oh my god, are you saying?"

"Yes." She said, fighting the tears again.

Andrew pulled her to him for a hug and smiled widely. Emily closed her eyes feeling a few tears roll down her cheeks.


	9. Chapter 9

The Choices We Make

Chapter 9

A/N: So, here we are with one more chapter of this new story. Thanks for the reviews, and keep in mind that I am a Hotch and Prentiss fan, and I love happy endings, so just be patient as the story develops, I promise it will be worth it. I know the last chapter was hard, but guess what...this chapter has unexpected news, and you guys will be surprised!

Please, also keep in mind that not all the credit belongs to me. Don't forget to thank SouthunLady, who has been in charge of grammar and helping me correct the stories. Her help really makes reading the stories easier. Thank you sooo much, SouthunLady, we are both working on the story, so be sure to be thankful to her. (I do very little to the story...that's all MissG! And I love doing it, signed SouthunLady.)

The minute Hotch saw the huge engagement ring on Emily's left hand, he knew he had lost her for good. He couldn't believe she had accepted Andrew's proposal, although he understood she was hurt and mad...he just couldn't believe she had not given him a chance to even explain. He couldn't understand why she just ran away without letting him explain that he wasn't going to be with Beth, that he wanted to be with her, but she just ran away after hearing about the baby. Of course, he knew Beth had hurt Emily by saying they were getting married, and he understood that Emily probably felt betrayed, but that didn't stop him from being angry at her for getting engaged with Andrew. After all, she had told him she loved him, she had kissed him, and then she had jumped into that idiot's arms, and she was going to marry him without loving him. Hotch was furious, confused and hurt, and he did the worst thing he could have done, he acted out of anger and emotions, too, and he told Beth that they should try and give it a chance with their relationship, and he was back with Beth now. That was the worst mistake he had ever made in his life, because now, Emily hated him even more than she had before.

Emily had stopped talking to him immediately after she find out about the baby. She was very abrupt with him, and only spoke to him about work. She even started calling him "Sir" again and acted like she had just met him, but once she heard that he was back with Beth, she stopped talking with him altogether...she avoided him at all cost, and when she did talk to him, she couldn't even look him in his eyes. They were both so hurt inside, and they were too stubborn to admit to each other that they needed to sit down and just talk about what was going on in their lives at the moment and what they could do about it, but they both were so aware of each other, it was seriously affecting them mentally and physically, and they just didn't seem in sync anymore even at work.

It was then that Dave realized Hotch felt something for Emily, something more than friendship. They were at the BAU's annual party, and everyone had been invited. Of course, Emily had to bring Andrew with her, and Hotch was raging mad. That was how Dave found out in the first place. Beth was busy with her mother, or so she said. The truth was Hotch didn't know much about Beth's private life...he had never really inquired about her past and her family, in fact, he had only been at her apartment a few times, and she had always seemed nervous while they were there, but that was back when they first started dating, and the majority of the time Beth insisted on being at Hotch's apartment, something that he found a little odd, but not weird.

Right now, his mind was on the brunette that was dancing on the dance floor with her stupid boyfriend. He had his arm around her waist, and they were dancing very close. Emily was wearing a black strapless dress that fitted every curve of her body just like it should and came to just above her knees, her hair was up in a loose bun with loose tendrils softly framing her molten chocolate eyes with smoky accents, and she has wearing 4 inch heels, which made her look very statuesque and beautiful. Hotch was getting more jealous by the minute; he was already raging mad that she was engaged to that asshole, and now, he was being forced to watch them dance together and interact as a couple. He was sitting at the table that was assigned to the team. Garcia and Morgan were a few feet away dancing as well, and on the other side of the room JJ and Will were dancing. Reid had chosen not to go to the annual party and decided to go to Las Vegas and spend time with his mother. Rossi was somewhere around wooing one of leaders of the Counter Terrorism Department.

Emily seemed to be having a great time with her boyfriend, and just in that moment, Andrew leaned down to kiss her and whispered something in her ear that make her smile and blush at the same time. Hotch banged his fist on the table from the anger he felt to watch him have fun with HIS woman...she should be dancing with him and not with that idiot. Rossi sat down at the table watching his friend's behavior; he had noticed Hotch had been acting strangely lately, and he had finally figured it had something to do with his friendship with Emily. He had the feeling there was more than friendship between them, but now he was sure there was. Hotch had been in the worst mood for the last couple of weeks, and Rossi figured it had something to do with Beth's pregnancy, since Hotch had finally told him about that and how unhappy he was about the whole thing. Rossi knew since day one that Hotch wasn't into Beth at all, and now he knew why. He was in love with Emily...he should have seen it before.

"So, that is why you are so upset?" Rossi said, as he sat down.

"What are you talking about?" Hotch said still looking on Emily's direction.

"You are in love with her, aren't you? He said, profiling him.

"What?" He said, turning back to look at his oldest and best friend.

"You are upset because she got engaged?" He added, looking at him intensely.

"Wait! She got engaged right after Beth's news." Dave added, smiling in amusement.

"And….?" Hotch asked sarcastically.

"Something happened between you two, didn't it?"

Hotch didn't respond, he just turned his attention back to Emily and for a minute, he looked sad.

"Emily got engaged because she found out Beth was pregnant didn't she?" Dave added, Hotch knew Dave was profiling him now, and he couldn't hide anything from his best friend, after all, he was the best profiler the BAU had ever had.

"Does she know you love her and not Beth?" Dave asked, watching Hotch's sad behavior.

"It doesn't matter…she obviously doesn't care!" He said, getting up and walking away since he couldn't stare at her with Andrew anymore.

Dave just watched his friend walk away; he knew he was genuinely hurting, and he didn't know what to do to help his friend. He also knew Emily was hurting, too, he could see her in her eyes. He could see it now as she danced with the man that was supposed to be her fiancé, she seemed happy and smiling, but he could tell her smile was fake and full of sadness and pain. He would find a way to get his friends together no matter what that was. Emily returned to the table with Andrew, and they both sat down, Emily excused herself to go to the bathroom. She walked into the women's restroom and quickly used the bathroom. Then, she went to the sink to wash her hands and face and to smooth her make up. She was the only one in the bathroom, and suddenly, someone walked in and locked the door behind them. Emily turned around to see who the person was that had walked in, and she was in shock.

"Hotch! What are you doing here? This is the women's restroom." She said, in the most polite manner she could manage under the circumstances.

"You couldn't help yourself, could you?" He asked angrily

"What are you talking about?" She asked, surprised

"You just had to bring your boyfriend over and parade him in front of me….show how happy you two seem to be?" He said, glaring at her. Emily just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Hotch, we both made choices, and we need to live with those choices…maybe you should go home to your pregnant girlfriend." She said. Hotch could see the venom in her eyes.

"I wish you could have let me explain." He said sadly.

"You have nothing to explain...your girlfriend is pregnant, and you're going to marry her. I was an idiot to believe you, that's all, and now, I've made my choice, too, so, that's all that needs to be said." She added, looking at him with hurt-filled eyes.

"Yeah, you chose to marry someone you don't love, right? Just to hurt me?." He asked incredulously

"You know what, I'm not going to do this…have a good night." She said annoyed, trying to move past him, but he blocked her way.

"Move Hotch." She said, angrily.

"NO!" Hotch said, looking at her defiantly.

"Does that idiot even make you happy? Does he please you in bed?" He asked, coming closer to her.

Emily slapped him open palmed right across the face. Hotch just stood there looking at her intensely without any reaction. They both stared at each other with searing eyes, Emily was shaking mad, and once again, she tried to move past him, and when he didn't let her, she tried to push him away, but he grabbed her firmly by her wrists pressing her against the sink. He pulled her by the waist to him, and even though she tried to push him away he held her firmly, and captured her mouth and began kissing her passionately. Emily tried to fight him ,but she couldn't, or maybe she wasn't trying very hard to begin with. He bit her lips softly and pulled away looking at her intensely. Then, he slid his hand under her dress, feeling her smooth legs, feeling her shiver under his touch as his hand moved closer to her panties. She could feel herself getting wet while he looked at her through piercing eyes.

"Does he make you feel like that? He added, pressing his hand against her panties, feeling the wet fabric. Once again, he kissed her passionately and more intensely, tasting the champagne on her mouth while his hand played under her panties. When he finally pulled away, Emily just stood there looking at him intensely...unable to respond.

"I didn't think so." He finally said, pulling away from her mouth but keeping her in his arms.

"He would never make you feel the way I do, no matter how hard you try to hide it." He said, letting go of her and walking away.

"He would never love you like I do." He added, unlocking the bathroom door and walking away leaving Emily alone in the bathroom, speechless at what he had just done. Emily closed her eyes trying to hide how turned on and how affected she was by what had just happened.

She knew this was going to be the hardest thing in the world to let him go, to forget about him, to stop thinking about him. She had never loved anyone so much in her life...he was right, no man had ever made her feel like that, when he touched her so intimately, Emily thought she could see stars. She washed her face and tried to hide how flushed she was. When she finally returned to the table, Hotch was sitting there looking at her in a way that made her so uncomfortable, and she knew that the only thing they both had in their minds was what had happened in the bathroom.

Many miles away from there, Beth Clemons was standing by the fireplace of a very luxurious house staring deeply at the fire. Suddenly, he approached her wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck softly.

"Are you ok, honey?" Maxwell asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just have a headache." She said, moving away from Maxwell's arms.

"What is the matter with you, Beth?" He asked, getting upset.

"You have been acting like this for a very long time now." Her husband said.

"Oh really, because you have been gone most of the year on your stupid job….you only come for a few days every month, so how do you know how I've been acting?" She asked, annoyed.

"I'm sorry, honey, I know I've been gone a very long time this year." He came closer, wrapping his arm around his wife.

"I don't want to argue, okay….I'm back and….I'll stay this time…no more traveling." He said, kissing her, but he couldn't help but notice there was something odd about his wife's behavior.

Maxwell was a software developer, and he had one of the most impressive jobs in the nation, and that was the reason why he had to travel around the world constantly. The last year had been the hardest because he had been gone most of the year; he had hardly seen his wife all year, and he knew she was upset about that. They had been married for eight years, and he had given Beth a life of luxury and one she could hardly imagine. Maxwell was completely in love with Beth and he would do anything for her; this time, he was planning on staying home for her and be there for her, especially now that they had a reason to celebrate. No one was aware of this part of Beth Clemons' life, not even Supervisory Special Agent Hotchner,


	10. Chapter 10

The Choices we Make

Chapter 10

Emily was out with the girls shopping and planning what should be the best day of her life. She and Andrew were to be married soon, and the girls had decided that they needed to make this the wedding of the year, so after dragging Emily into every single wedding dress shop in D.C., she had yet to decide on a dress. For some reason, Emily just seemed unable to decide on a dress. Garcia thought that was just normal wedding stress and nerves...she said most woman get like that when they were going to get married. What the girls didn't know was the reason Emily couldn't decide on a dress was because her heart just wasn't into the wedding at all; her heart, in fact, was in deep pain. She wanted to run away and disappear; she felt inside that she wanted to just never see Andrew or Hotch again. Emily had not been in a relationship for a long time before Andrew, because she had sworn she would never fall in love again.

The first time she had fallen in love, the jerk broke her heart into a million pieces. It was back when she was in college, and she had fallen in love with one of her professors, and after they had dated for her entire time at college which was four years, and after he had proposed to her, she thought it was the best thing that had happened to her. But, months before the wedding, he disappeared, and she never heard from him again; after that, she was devastated. and she swore she would never in her life let anyone close enough to hurt her again. Years passed before Emily dated again, and she didn't care since she'd sworn she would be alone for the rest of her life. But then, she met Andrew and she felt attracted to him, and well, she had not been in a relationship in a long time and girls had their needs...but she wasn't into Andrew at all, in fact, she never let her guard down. She had never let her heart and feelings open up to Andrew at all because she just figured he would get tired of her and go away. But, he never did, he fell completely in love with her, and she found herself trapped in a relationship where she did not want to be.

Then "HE" had to come and make everything worse. Emily didn't know how it happened, but it did, everything started as a friendship, they shared secrets, helped each other in good and bad times, she found herself comfortable and safe around him. She also found herself able to trust him with anything even her most intimate secrets. They had been friends for a long time, they had spent many nights together, laughing, talking, it was just supposed to be a friendship, she had a boyfriend and he had a girlfriend. Emily never understood why she didn't like his girlfriend, there was something about her she didn't like, she felt something odd in her stomach every time he talked about her, or was around her. Then he broke up with his girlfriend, and he called her to comfort him, and he kissed her one night, and that was all it took to realize that what she had felt for Aaron Hotchner, the man that was supposed to be her best friend, was something more than a friendship. She found she couldn't stop thinking about him, about the way his lips felt on her skin…about the way his hands felt around her waist. Her walls had broken down, and Emily Prentiss found herself completely in love with him, her boss, when he said he loved her back, and he wanted a chance with her, she felt that for the first time in her life she had found her true love and her soul mate. But, she let her guard down again, and he had broken her heart into a million pieces, and now she was not sure she would ever recover.

Now, she was shopping around with her best friends pretending to be excited and happy about a wedding she did not want to have, with a man she didn't love, she couldn't decide on a dress because she did not want a dress. Garcia had gone to get them coffee while Emily and JJ sat at a nearby restaurant to take a break. JJ had noticed that her best friend wasn't into this at all, and she had realized Emily couldn't decide on a dress because her mind wasn't there at all.

"What is it with you, Emily…..aren't you supposed to be super excited about this?"

"I am excited, I'm just tired...we've been shopping all day." She said, trying to excuse herself.

"Please don't tell me you're getting cold feet?" JJ asked, concerned.

Emily didn't respond, she just looked away, unable to explain to JJ how she felt. JJ was her best friend, but she had not told her about Hotch yet, in fact, she had not told anyone. JJ grabbed her friend's hands softly and looked at her intensely...

"Look, I'm not a profiler, but I know you, and you're not into this at all…in fact, you don't even want to get married...right?" JJ asked, she had known Emily for a very long time and she knew her expressions, so, when Emily looked down she knew she was right.

"Come on, Em, you know you can trust me?" JJ said in a comforting tone.

"I'm fine. Jayje, I promise you." Emily lied, just in that moment Garcia returned with the coffees, so they couldn't keep talking, not that they didn't trust Garcia, of course they did, she was their best friend, too, but JJ knew that if Emily was having a hard time trusting her that was more discreet with secrets, then she would definitely not open up to Garcia. They knew she was an amazing person, but Garcia tended to let secrets slip out unintentionally sometime in order to help people out.

By the end of the day, Emily was exhausted. They had been shopping all day, and she had finally selected a random dress, just so the girls would leave her alone. Of course, JJ had been sending her questioning looks all day after their talk. Emily knew JJ wasn't stupid, and she also knew JJ knew most of her expressions, so she couldn't hide from JJ any longer. She just didn't know how to tell JJ she was in love with their boss, and that was the reason why she did not want to marry Andrew. Of course, she trusted JJ, in fact, JJ was one of the persons that she trusted the most. JJ had become one of her best friends, and she had always been amazing to her since the first time they met. But, blurting out that you were in love with your boss wasn't something really easy to do.

Emily was on her way home, with all these things in her head, she needed to think and she felt like she couldn't breath anymore. She decided to park her car and take a walk on the streets of D.C., she thought a walk would make her feel better, then she would go home and attempt to get some sleep. She stopped to get a cup of coffee and started wandering around the lighted streets. She could feel the tears threatening to fall down her face...she was hurting big time, and she couldn't hide it anymore. This was affecting her so much to the point she couldn't sleep, every time she tried to close her eyes the first thing that she would see was Hotch touching her in such a delicious way that made her lost her mind. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget about that encounter in the bathrooms, she couldn't forget the way he had kissed her, the way he had touched her, she became wet just thinking about it. No man had ever turned her on so much before, no man had ever made her feel the butterflies she felt every time he kissed her. No matter what she did, she couldn't get Aaron Hotchner out of her mind. It was killing her. She knew she would never be able to stop loving him no matter how hard she tried, but she had to, after all, his girlfriend was pregnant, and they were about to have a family together.

As Emily walked through the streets of D.C., her mind was on that night in the bathroom...as much as she tried to deny it, what he had done to her tortured her every night. The way Hotch had touched her while kissing her was wonderful, Emily was sure if he had continued touching her intimate parts like that while kissing her so passionately, she would have had an orgasm just by his touch. Okay now, she really had to stop thinking about him….just as she was about to cross the street, something caught her attention, or actually someone…but this couldn't be... there was no way, this was just impossible…..she couldn't…

Beth Clemons was on the other side of the street walking with someone and they were holding hands; suddenly, they stopped at the corner of the street and he turned around to pull her in his arms and kissed her passionately...only the man assaulting her mouth wasn't Aaron Hotchner. Emily was in shock, this couldn't be, this was not possible, Beth was cheating on Aaron, and she had just witnessed it. Emly tried to pull her phone out to snap a picture, but she was so nervous she dropped the phone on the floor, and when she finally picked it up, the couple crossed the street and disappeared. Okay, she was sure of what she had seen, she didn't imagine it, and she had to tell Hotch, she had to, no matter how mad she was at him, he deserved to know this. Only she didn't know how in the world she was going to tell him. They had not spoken a single word to each other since their encounter in the bathroom. Hotch had not said a single word to her after that, he, in fact, avoided being in the same room with her. Emily was sure he just plain hated her, and that was why he was acting like that. As for Hotch's side, he had distanced himself from Emily because he was afraid he couldn't keep his hands away from her any longer, and he was sure that next time, he was going to make her his whether she wanted it or not.

When Emily returned to work on Monday she didn't know what to do. She knew deep inside her that Hotch deserved to know the truth; she had to tell him no matter how much talking to him hurt her, after all, she cared for him, and he deserved to know. So she made her way to her desk thinking of a way to drop the bomb shell without causing a lot of trouble. She glanced to his office, and he seemed concentrated on his work as usual. Emily decided to wait until the end of the day to go talk to him; meanwhile, she would try to get some paperwork done since they were not on a case.

A few hours later, Hotch was sitting at his desk trying to concentrate on all the files he had to review. He had a huge headache, and the last place he wanted to be was the BAU. He had not stopped thinking about Emily and that night in the bathroom, he could still taste her on his lips, he became crazy at night thinking about her. Oh, the things he could to her. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get her out of his head. He was head over heels in love with her, and he knew he had never loved anyone the way he love Emily, not even Haley. Hotch knew Emily was it for him, but she had made her choice, and he couldn't forgive her for that.

Around 3 pm, the mail arrived at his office, and he started going through it. In the mail, he found a very elegant wedding invitation...it was Emily's wedding invitation. He couldn't believe she had dared to send him a wedding invitation...did she really hate him that much? She knew he was hurting already, and now she wanted to hurt him more by sending him an invitation to her wedding with that asshole! He angrily ripped the invitation into a million pieces. Fine, if that was what she wanted, he was going to get her out of his head once and for all. He swore right there that he would get her out of his head no matter how much that would cost him. He swore that he would stop thinking about her and dedicate his mind to Beth and forget that Emily ever existed. He threw away the invitation and focused his mind on work again.

At the end of the day, Emily had no choice but to go into his office and talk to him. She softly knocked on the closed door...she had no idea how she was going to do this, but she knew she had to. She tapped on the door again and waited for an answer, when he told her to come in, she slowly walked in more nervous than ever.

"Sorry to bother you, Hotch…I just…I need to talk to you…" She said, nervously.

"What do you want, Prentiss?" He asked, rudely. Emily just glared at him _"Prentiss really?"_

"May I talk to you for a minute?" She asked, again trying to make him look at her since he had been looking at his files since she had walked in.

"What do you want?" Emily felt a pinch in her stomach at how cold and rude he was acting toward her, but she had to do this no matter what. So she exhaled and closed her eyes trying to gain some courage.

"Look, there is no nice way to say this, so I'm just going to say it…I think…..I think you should be careful with Beth." She said nervously.

"What?" He asked rudely.

"I don't think she is being honest with you." Emily said again.

"What the hell are you talking about, Prentiss!" He said finally, looking at her angrily. Emily just rolled her eyes, she had no choice...she had to say it word for word.

"She is cheating on you….I saw her…" She finally said, to her surprise Hotch just smirked.

"Is that all you have…Prentiss?" He said angrily.

Emily just looked at him confused.

"Do you think I'm going to believe your lies?" He asked, looking at her evilly, Emily just looked at him with hurt in her eyes.

"You think I am lying?" She asked in disbelief?

"Beth is an amazing woman, I don't believe your lies, and I won't let you ruin my happiness with her." The minute he said, it he regretted it, but it was too late...Emily just felt like she had been slapped on the face.

"You know what….you are a worse asshole than I thought you were…..I'm sorry I even said anything." She said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Goodbye, Hotch." She said, walking away from his office crying. Hotch just stood there looking at her with anger in his eyes. He watched as she grabbed her stuff and walked away from the BAU. Then something finally hit his mind. What if she wasn't lying...after all, she had never lied to him…ever...but, could he trust her right about this situation?


	11. Chapter 11

The Choices We Make

Chapter 11

It was almost ten o'clock and Hotch was still in his office. He was going through the last files his team had submitted although his mind was somewhere else. He couldn't stop thinking about what Emily had told him; first of all, he was mad at her for sending him the wedding invitation; second, he was mad at her because she had chosen to marry another man, even though she loved him; third, he was mad at her for not choosing him...but, as mad as he was, he also knew Emily would never lie to him, especially not about something like that. But, right now, his anger with her was so strong, he couldn't keep it off his mind. Dave walked into his office and stood there watching his friend staring at the file in front of him without seeing it for a little while before he spoke. Dave knew something was bothering his best friend because ever since Emily had come into his office, Hotch had been acting strange.

"How much longer are you going to keep staring at that file?" Dave asked, walking forward into Hotch's office and sitting down in front of him. Hotch looked up at his friend, and he couldn't find the words to tell him anything...he just didn't know what to say, so his eyes went back to the file.

"What's the matter?" Dave asked, with concern in his voice.

"Nothing." Hotch said, dismissively. Dave stood up and walked around his desk, leaning to sit at the edge of Hotch's desk to get a better view of his friend. When he looked down, his eyes landed on the trash can and the invitation that had been torn into a million pieces and thrown away in the trash; he recognized it immediately because he had gotten one himself that afternoon...it was Emily's wedding invitation.

"I see, you know I don't think Emily sent that…from what I know it was JJ and Andrew who were in charge of the invitations." Dave said, trying to comfort his friend.

"I don't care." Hotch said, his eyes still fixed firmly on the files.

"Come on, Aaron, I'm your best friend….what's going on…I'm not going to leave until you tell me what is bugging you." Dave said, crossing his arms over his chest. Hotch exhaled, looking at his best friend...he knew if he didn't tell him, Dave wasn't going to leave him alone.

"She said…she told me Beth was cheating on me…she said she saw her." Hotch said, angrily.

"I mean why would she do something like that, Dave…why would she lie about something like that?" Dave just looked at him in shock. Suddenly, Dave felt anger running through his veins, and he wasn't sure if he was mad at the fact that Beth was cheating on Aaron, or the fact that his friend was so stupid to believe Emily would actually lie about something like that.

"What makes you think she is lying? What if Beth is cheating on you? Have you considered that?" Dave asked, looking at him with questioning eyes.

"She is not." Hotch said firmly.

"How do you know that...you know nothing about her past….hell, you don't even know her family...she hasn't even taken you to her place…for all you know, she could be having an affair." Dave reasoned.

"I don't think so." Hotch said, trying to sound convinced.

"You know what this means right?" Dave asked, concerned. Hotch just looked at him confused.

"If she is actually cheating on you, there is a possibility the baby may not be yours." He said in a serious tone.

Suddenly, it was like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on Hotch's head. His mind started moving a hundred miles per minute, so fast he felt kind of dizzy, and he found himself unable to breathe. He decided he had to at least investigate what Emily had told him...he had to make sure.

"What do I do." He asked, all of the sudden his face full of fear.

"I'll take care of it. I'll do some research. and get Garcia to help, but I'll rather keep this private. Let me see what I can find, and I'll check back in with you tomorrow." Dave said, walking away and leaving his friend alone thinking.

Meanwhile, Emily had just arrived at her apartment, Andrew was already there waiting for her because they were supposed to go through the last details of the wedding as well as some other last minute things they needed to discuss. As soon as Emily arrived, Andrew immediately noticed she had been crying again; in fact, he knew she had been doing that a lot lately, but every time he asked her about it because he was afraid the stress of the wedding planning and getting ready for the wedding and honeymoon plus her job was putting too much pressure on her, she would lie about it so, once again, he decided to leave it alone. Emily said hi to Andrew and went upstairs to take a shower in an attempt to make herself feel better. She was so angry at Hotch...she couldn't believe he was such a jerk...there she was trying to do what she thought was the right thing to do, and he had accused her of making it up and lying about it. Well, he could go to hell...she didn't care anymore, she was going to forget about him completely!

When she came downstairs, Andrew was waiting for her in the living room so they could go through all the details of the wedding. She wanted to get this over with and help Andrew, maybe she could try and give Andrew a real chance and learn to love him. Andrew started going through all the details of the wedding, and of course, he wanted the best for her and he could afford it, so he was making plans at the most expensive and luxurious resorts he could afford; Emily was sure this was going to cost a fortune, and she wished she could be as excited as any other woman would be. Then, Andrew handed her the list of invitations he had already sent to check if she wanted anyone else invited. Emily started going through the list, and then she saw "his" name and it hit her why Hotch was so upset.

'You sent and invitation to my boss…why would you do that?" She asked, pissed.

"Why wouldn't I? I thought he was one of your best friends, Em." Andrew asked, confused.

"You should have asked me first...I didn't want to send him one…..you should have told me first." She said again, a little louder than she intended.

"Why are you upset Emily? I thought he was your friend. What is wrong with sending him an invitation?" Andrew asked, still not sure why Emily was so mad about inviting Hotch to their wedding.

"We..are .we're not talking right now..so I was not going to send him one." She said, stammering

"Okay, he is your best friend, do you really think he isn't going to come to your wedding?" Andrew reasoned.

"No, that is not the point, you should have asked me. I didn't want him there." She said, yelling.

"Why the hell are you so upset, Emily? And when did you two stopped talking? I thought you were best friend. What the hell happened that you don't want him at our wedding?" Andrew asked, getting upset, too. Suddenly, Emily realized she had just fucked up with Andrew.

"Nothing happened..I…I. am going to bed. I don't feel good." She said, walking around and going upstairs to her bedroom. Andrew just stood there looking at the floor sadly without knowing what to do. Even though Emily didn't tell him, he knew what was wrong, she liked her boss, he'd had a feeling about it before, but now he was certain.

The next day, Hotch arrived at the office earlier than usual; he had not slept much all night because he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened the previous day. He couldn't believe he had never inquired about Beth's past life and that bothered him so much. He was a profiler... he should have seen it, but he didn't and now he didn't know what to do. If it was true that Beth was cheating on him maybe he still had a chance with Emily. Just in that moment, Dave walked into his office, and by the look on his face, the news wasn't good at all.

"So?" Hotch asked anxiously.

"Are you ready for this? It's not good news." Dave answered, holding the file in his hands.

Aaron just nodded at his friend and watched as he sat on the other side of his desk, his expression neutral. Dave exhaled, opening the file he had been holding all morning, ready to deliver the bad news.

"Beth Clemmons…..has been married to Maxwell Clemons since 2006. They met on a cruise, and they live in Burleith, one of the most exclusive areas of D.C. Records show they are currently together. He is a very successful government spyware software developer and travels around the world constantly. That is probably how she was able to pull this off" Dave was referring to her relationship with Hotch.

Hotch just sat there in complete shock at what he was hearing. Not only had he just found out Beth was lying to him and cheating on him, but he was the affair she was having. She was cheating on her husband with him. He couldn't believe this...he felt really dizzy, and he couldn't think anymore. How could he have been so stupid to be fooled by Beth for a whole year. This was not possible, this had to be a big mistake. She couldn't have done this...and the baby...

"What about the baby, that means she could be lying about that, too?" Hotch asked...Dave looked at his friend sadly.

"I'm sorry, Aaron…the baby isn't yours...the records show that her and her husband had been trying to conceive for the last 6 years with no luck…finally they were able to see a doctor who helped them through artificial insemination." Dave said sadly.

"I'm sorry. Aaron."

"I can't believe this. I just can't." He stood up from his desk grabbing the file from Dave's hand; he frantically started going through the pages and suddenly, his eyes landed on the address that showed Beth's residence.

Without saying a word, he walked out of his office then began running to the parking lot and to his car, turning the ignition. He needed an explanation for this fiasco, and he was going to get it even if he had to confront her in front of her husband. He drove like a maniac to the address in the files, and when he arrived at the address, he got out of the car furious. As he expected, she lived in a mansion. He walked to the front of the house and rang the doorbell. Beth came to the door, and her heart started pounding and she started sweating when she saw who was at the door.

"Oh my God, Aaron…what….?" She asked in shock, but she couldn't finish...she felt like she had seen a ghost.

"You thought I would never find out, didn't you?" Hotch asked, angrily.

"Please, I can explain...but not here." She said nervously, trying to get him to leave.

"What! Are you afraid your husband will hear us?"

"Aaron, please..." She begged. Just in that moment Maxwell Clemons came to the door.

"Who is it, baby?" Maxwell asked, concerned when he saw Hotch, thinking there was a confrontation of some kind.

"I'm Aaron Hotchner, FBI." He said, pulling out his badge and showing it to Maxwell Clemons.

"Is there a problem?" Maxwell asked, when he saw the FBI badge.

"I don't know...you should ask your wife..." He said, glaring at Beth.

"What is going on, Beth?" He asked, concerned.

Since Beth didn't respond, Hotch knew he had to tell Maxwell even if he ended up punching him in the face.

"The problem is your wife has been lying to the both of us. I just found out she was married to you…and we've been dating for almost a year. She even stalked me one morning on a running track and started a conversation, She knew my name and where I worked, and made it obvious that she wanted to strike up a relationship with me."

"WHAT?" Maxwell asked, looking at Beth surprised.

"Listen, I'm so sorry, I didn't know." Hotch said, but Maxwell was looking at Beth who was still unable to responds.

"She told me the baby was mine, and I believed the baby was mine, and I was trying to make things work between us for the baby's sake." Aaron added.

"You told him the baby was his?" Maxwell asked, even more surprised.

"That is not possible….she can't get pregnant, she got pregnant by." Maxwell couldn't even utter the words.

"I know." Hotch said. "I know everything." He added, looking at her evilly.

"I can explain this, Aaron." Beth started...

"Don't, you're lucky I don't arrest you for fraud and making false statements." He said furiously.

"Aaron, please." Beth begged, her husband still looking at her in shock.

I want nothing to do with you ever again in my life…if you come near me, or any of my friends or my family, I will press charges." Hotch said fuming.

"I'm sorry again, I didn't know, I just thought you deserved to know what kind of woman you're married to." He said, apologizing to Maxwell again. With that, Hotch walked out of their house and got in his truck and left the Clemons house forever.

Maxwell stood there devastated looking at Beth with so much pain and hatred.

"Maxwell, baby, please I can explain." She begged, crying.

"Save the words and crying, Beth...I'll leave tonight, and when I come back, I want you out of my house. I'll file for divorce. I'll be there for the baby, but I don't want to see you ever again in my life." He said, leaving Beth alone in the house crying on the floor.

Hotch was driving back from Beth's house so angry at her and himself he couldn't believe it. He had trusted her, and he couldn't believe she had fooled him because he was one of the best Agents the FBI had, and he was fooled by s psychopathic woman. He should have believed Emily when she told him there was something odd about her. He drove to the only place he could go, the only place he needed to be. He needed to talk to her, he needed to explain to her. He knocked on her door, and he didn't care if her stupid fiancée was there, they needed to talk. Emily opened the door of her apartment, and she was shocked to see who was at the door.

"What are you doing here?" She asked rudely.

"Can we please talk?" Hotch asked, looking at her sadly.

"We have nothing to talk about, Sir, please leave." She was going to close the door on his face, but he held the door firmly.

"Please, Emily, I'm begging you...I need you to listen to me for just for five minutes." He begged again.

"Why I'm a liar right? What can you possibly talk to me about?" She asked angrily.

"I'm sorry...I should have listened to you….you were right about everything." He said, looking at her sadly. Emily just looked at him in confusion.

"She's married, and the baby isn't mine." He finally said, defeated.

"I'm sorry, Hotch." She said, finally moving away from the door and letting him in. She could see the pain in his eyes, and as mad as she was at him, she still cared.

"It doesn't matter…that is not why I am here." He said, turning around to look at her.

"Then why?'

"I came to tell you…that I love you more than I have ever loved anyone, even Haley." He said, looking at her more intensely than ever.

"Please don't marry him…..please give me a chance….there is nothing else that can stand in our way." He suddenly pulled the brunette into his arms and started to kiss her passionately, but Emily pushed him away.

"What is wrong with you?" She snapped.

"You can't just do this, Aaron….you can't just come here and expect me to jump into your arms after you treated me like shit."

"I made a huge mistake, Emily, please forgive me….please give me a chance." He begged.

"No, It doesn't work like that. Hotch, I'm getting married this weekend, you can't just do this" She said, angrily.

"You don't love him, you love me." He said, getting closer to her, but Emily moved away.

"Please leave, Aaron." She warned.

"Emily, how could you do this…get married to someone you don't love?' He asked, with pain-filled eyes.

"Do you think he would ever make you happy?" Hotch asked, glaring at her.

"I know he would never make me cry." She said, looking at him defiantly.

"Please leave, Hotch." She asked again. Finally, he walked out of her apartment with sad eyes. That was all, he had lost her . Emily closed the door of her apartment collapsing on the floor and started sobbing on her knees.

"God…I fucking love you…..I would never be able to stop loving you." She said, sobbing on her knees. She wasn't aware that Hotch was still on the other side of the door. He had listened to everything she had said, and he was listening to her crying now,

"I love you, too, Emily...I always will" He said softly, and he finally left.

When Andrew arrived that night to her place, he noticed her swollen eyes for the 100th time that month, and even though Emily had tried to hide it again, he knew she had been crying. In fact, he knew she cried herself to sleep every night. Emily thought she was hiding it from him, but he heard her every night crying for hours while he pretended to be asleep. He knew why she was hurting, and he wasn't sure he could live with it any longer.


	12. Chapter 12

The Choices We Make

Chapter 12

A/N: So, here we are with one more chapter of this new story. Thanks for the reviews, and keep in mind that I am a Hotch and Prentiss fan, and I love happy endings, so just be patient as the story develops, I promise it will be worth it. We have one more chapter after this one and then we are done with this story, I hope you guys like it and you can always suggest what do you want me to write about

Please, also keep in mind that not all the credit belongs to me. Don't forget to thank SouthunLady, who has been in charge of grammar and helping me correct the stories. Her help really makes reading the stories easier. Thank you sooo much, SouthunLady, we are both working on the story, so be sure to be thankful to her. (I do very little to the story...that's all MissG! And I love doing it, signed SouthunLady.)

The night before the wedding Emily was in her apartment alone, she had been crying all day, in fact she had cried so much she was sure she had no more tears left. She couldn't stop thinking about Aaron, and she was sure she would never be able to stop loving him. There was no baby now and there was nothing in their way anymore, and he had come begging her for another chance and she had told him "no". She wanted to die after he left because she could see that his heart was broken, But, she couldn't felt like she couldn't play with Andrew's feelings any longer...she was supposed to get married that weekend, and she wasn't going to end things with him days before the wedding. She just couldn't; that would devastate him, and she couldn't break his heart, not after how amazing he had been to her. She had made her choice, so now she had to learn to live with it. No matter how hard it was, no matter how painful it was, she had to forget about Aaron Hotchner. She had already decided that she would resign the BAU when she rreturned from their honeymoon because she knew she wouldn't be able to see him at work every day. In fact, she'd rather not see him ever again, she knew that was the only way she could get him out of her head and heart, even if it killed her. She was cuddled up on her couch crying when someone knocked on her door.

Andrew had knocked on Emily's apartment door...he knew she would be there although she should have been at her bachelorette party. He nervously waited for her to open the door; he had thought about doing do this for the last few days, and he finally decided that he had to do it today and not let it go another day, which would have been their wedding day. When Emily opened the door, he realized he was doing the right thing because her eyes were, once again, red and puffy, and he had a feeling she had been crying all day.

"Andrew, what are you doing here?" asked Emily, trying to hide her tears.

"I should be asking you that, Em." Andrew replied, walking inside her apartment as she closed the door after them, then turned to face him.

"What do you mean?' She asked.

"Aren't you supposed to be at your bachelorette party?" He asked, looking at her sadly.

"I…I ….was….. a little nervous so…. I decided to stay home…" She stammered.

"Right!" Andrew replied and before Emily could say anything else, he spoke again...

"You have a migraine, you don't feel well, you have allergies...what else, Em?" Emily looked at him with wide eyes without being able to respond.

"What else are you going to invent as an excuse to hide your tears from me?" He asked sadly.

"I can't do this anymore, Em." Andrew said tiredly, yet firmly.

'I don't know what you're talking about, Andrew"...because she really didn't have any idea what else to say.

"I'm talking about Aaron Hotchner?" He replied, looking at her. Emily was stunned and opened her mouth to respond but nothing would come out of her mouth...her voice wouldn't cooperate..

"I don't need to be a profiler like you to know that you are in love with someone else?" He finally explained, leaving Emily aghast.

"Andrew, I don't know what you mean..I..." But, he cut her off before she could finish.

"Come on, Emily, do you think I don't know that you cry yourself to sleep every night? Do you think I don't know that you've been hurting? Do you think I don't know that you are in love with him" Andrew iterated and Emily felt like she had been slapped in the face.

"When I first met you, he was all you talked about, him and his son, but I didn't say anything because you said you guys were friends only." He was pacing around the living room, and Emily sat there speechless.

"Then it became more than that, I know it...you haven't been yourself for a very long time, and I know it's because you are distanced. I know you think that I'm sleeping at night, but I can hear you crying, and I can see how much pain you're going through." He said, finally sitting down on the couch.

"Andrew, please…you don't understand." She tried to explain, but he stood up shaking his head with dismissal and cutting her off again.

"I love you, Em, I love you more than I've ever loved anyone, but I can't go any longer watching you put yourself through hell because of our wedding...I'm sorry." He said sadly.

"What are you saying?' Emily asked confused...because they were supposed to get married tomorrow.

"The wedding is canceled, Em…..I love you …..but, I don't want to wake up in a few years knowing that you are not happy with me because your heart always belonged to someone else. You always belonged to him" When Andrew said that, Emily felt a punch in her stomach, and she didn't know what to say or what to do. She just stood there looking at him with tears rolling down her face. He was the best guy she had ever dated, and yet he was breaking up with her a day before their wedding, and she wasn't upset about it …she was sort of …..relieved?

"I'm sorry." That was all she was able to muster.

"I'm leaving the country tomorrow." Andrew said, trying to smooth things over and make things easier for Emily because their wedding was cancelled, giving her time for adjustment..

"What!? She asked in shock.

"I got a great job offer about six months ago in Dubai. I didn't take it back then because…..well, I thought that one day you would learn to love me…but….I..." He couldn't find the words to finish without breaking down and sobbing..

"It's a great offer and I always wanted to move to Dubai." He finally said.

"I'm so sorry, Andrew, I really am." She finally said with all the honesty she had in her. She had been willing to go through with the wedding to keep from breaking his heart, and he knew that.

"You can't rule your heart, and you can't tell it whom to love." He said and smiled sadly at her.

"I never meant to hurt you." Emily said, as heavy tears rolled down her beautiful face. Andrew approached her and wiped the tears from her face.

"I know." He knew that Emily had done everything in her power to be with him and to feel something for him, but he also knew love wasn't something you learned to do, either you felt it or you didn't.

"Just don't wait too long to go to him." Andrew smiled as he wiped her face

"My grandmother used to say that if you love someone you say it, you say it right then, out loud. Otherwise, the moment just... passes you by." He said, closing his eyes. Emily pulled him to her for a hug, and they stayed in a tight embrace for a long time until he finally pulled away kissing her forehead.

"Take care of yourself…."

"Thank you so much for everything…you are an amazing man." Emily said, kissing his lips softly.

He kissed her back and walked out the door leaving her in her apartment alone. Emily didn't know what to do she was in such shock at what had just happened. She couldn't believe Andrew had canceled the wedding the night before; of course, she was secretly happy, but she still felt sad at the same time because she really didn't mean to hurt him...he was an amazing guy. Now, she wasn't sure what to do, Andrew had told her to go find Aaron, but she wasn't even sure he would want her back, after all, she had told him the night before she didn't want him, and she wanted to marry Andrew. Now she needed to think and to rest, and tomorrow she would make a decision with a clear and lucid head and heart.

The next day, Emily woke up more tired than she was when she went to bed...she still couldn't believe Andrew had ended things with her...she couldn't believe he had set her free. She quickly showered and got dressed because there was somewhere she needed to be, and she was very sure of her decision now. As she got dressed, she watched her reflection on the mirror; she looked tired and the circles around her eyes were very evident, her eyes where still somewhat swollen from her crying. She tried to cover it up with make up as much as she could, trying to look natural, too, but, it really didn't help very much, so she just applied some lip-gloss and finally put on her coat and headed downstairs.

She got her purse and keys, and when she looked at her phone, she realized she had a million missed calls probably all from JJ and Garcia trying to find out what the hell what happened. But, at the moment, she needed to take care of something else...she would deal with her friends later. Now, she needed to find him, and she knew that wasn't going to be easy. She knew he wasn't going to be at work since everyone on the team had requested the day off for her wedding, and although he wasn't going to be in the wedding party she was sure he would not be at work either. She also knew he wasn't going to be at his apartment; Aaron Hotchner was definitely not the type of man that stayed at the house mourning. Where else could he be, she was thinking?

She drove around for a long while, going to his favorites places, parks, and all the places they had ever gone to together. After a while, she finally decided to go somewhere that was where he used to go when he wanted to be alone and think. She drove there and when she arrived, she saw his SUV parked outside the cemetery. That was where his mother was buried, Emily knew Aaron sometimes like to go there and sit by his mother's tomb and talk to her. That was something Emily found very sweet, she knew Aaron had a great relationship with his mother and how much he had been affected by her death. So a couple of times a month, Aaron would visit his mother, and he stayed there for a long time talking to her. She parked her car next to his truck slowly getting out slowly and closing the door. She knew where his mother's tomb was located because she had been there with him many times; she slowly made her way to where his mother was buried. And she saw him there sitting on the grass with his back to her, she approached him softly not wanting to scare him. As she got closer she could hear him talking to his mother.

"I know you can't hear me and this is probably going to sound silly, I just didn't know who else to talk to. I lost her. I lost her for good." He said sadly, as tears fell down his face.

"I am sure she can hear you wherever she is." Emily said, walking closer to him. He turned around as soon as he heard her voice. He couldn't believe this!

"Emily, what are you doing here?" He asked, getting up from the grass.

"You aren't that hard to profile." She said nervously.

I meant, you are supposed to get married….God, are you going to be late…you should go." He said, looking at his watch,

Emily just shook her head and stood there looking at him.

"You're going to be late." He said again, aware of the time.

"The wedding got cancelled." Emily finally said.

"Why? What happened?" Hotch asked, concerned.

"Andrew ended things with me…he canceled the wedding." She said looking away

"WHAT!?" Hotch asked in shock."

He knew my heart belonged to someone else…he didn't want to get married knowing that I would always love another man." She said looking at him. Hotch felt his heart start pounding like it was going to pound out of his chest.

"This other man….does he…does he still stand a chance with you?" He asked shyly.

"Well, that depends." She said somewhat nervously.

"If he still wants me."

Before Emily could say another word, Hotch approached her and pulled her into his arms, kissing her passionately and holding her tight to his body. Emily wrapped her arms around his neck and reciprocated the kiss. They stood there glued together kissing for what seemed like forever, they finally pulled away and they were both widely smiling.

"I love you." He said, hugging her tightly to him.

"I love you, too." Her arms were still around his neck.

"I think you know that we need to talk….about everything." Hotch said, looking at her firmly.

"I know…..I need to call everyone and explain why the wedding got cancelled. I still don't know what I'm going to say, but..." Emily said, shrugging her arms.

"We'll talk to them together." He said firmly.

"Aaron, I'm not sure….." Emily began...she wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to tell the team yet.

"Emily, I don't care….I love you, and, I'm not going to hide it from anyone, but first, you and I need to sit down and talk. Then we'll worry about the rest later." Aaron said, cutting her off.

"Ok, then, what is the next step?" She asked.

"How about I pick you up at your place tonight…we'll have dinner and talk, and we'll go from there." He said smiling.

"Okay, I would like that." He pulled her to him for another kiss. They both walked out of the cemetery holding hands, Emily was excited for their first official date.


	13. Chapter 13

The Choices We Make

Final Chapter

**A/N: Okay, guys, here it is, the final chapter…and with this I officially declare this story completed. I hope you guys liked it and remember that your reviews and feedback are absolutely necessary for me to continue writing and bring you good things to read. I am also back in school, and I won't have as much time to write as I have before to write stories, but I'm going to try and focus on oneshot stories, or 2 to 3 chapter stories. You are absolutely welcome to give me suggestions about what you would like to read about, tell me what you like or what you would like me to write about and I will do anything in my power to keep you happy. Thanks for all your support and patience and best of all, your super reviews. Your reviews kept me always wanting to write more and writing better.**

**Please, also keep in mind that not all the credit belongs to me. Don't forget to thank SouthunLady, who has been in charge of grammar and helping me correct the stories. Her help really makes reading the stories easier. Thank you sooo much, SouthunLady, we are both working on the story, so be sure to be thankful to her. (I do very little to the story...that's all MissG! And I love doing it, signed SouthunLady.)**

Around seven o'clock that night, Aaron arrived at Emily's apartment with a bouquet of pale gold roses, and pale gold calla lilies. He was wearing jeans, a black dress shirt that made him look formal and sexy at the same time, and he nervously rang Emily's door since they still needed to talk. He had been crazy happy since Emily had shown up at the cemetery that afternoon, and he was still speechless at the fact that life had given him a second chance with her. Aaron swore he wasn't going to lose her this time. He was going to do anything in his power to make her happy, in fact, he knew deep inside his heart that Emily was it for him. She was the love of his life, even over Haley, and he just knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. But right now, he needed to focus on repairing the damage that had been done in the past and rebuild their future together from the very beginning. But, Aaron just wanted to focus on tonight's talk and dinner. They would deal with the rest together.

When Emily heard the doorbell ring, she felt a mixture of butterflies and knots in her stomach; she was more than excited about their date tonight, but she also knew there was so much to talk about and so many things to clear up. Technically, she had been engaged, single and back in a relationship in a period of 24 hours. Well, technically, they were not officially in a relationship, but she wanted this more than she ever wanted anything, and she felt that by the end of the night they would be in an official relationship. She wasn't sure what to wear since it was their first date night, and she didn't want to overdress herself, so she opted for a casual peach colored dress that made her look very natural and beautiful, and her makeup was also very simple, but she did chose a red lipstick and her hair was tumbling down around her shoulders in soft curls. She went downstairs and opened the door for him, feeling her nerves become stronger in her stomach.

Aaron smiled at her as he was speechless, Emily looked stunning and utterly beautiful, and suddenly he found himself unable to utter a word.

"Wow!" That was all he was able to say.

"Come in." Suggested Emily as she opened the door for him. Aaron walked inside her threshold and leaned down to softly kiss her lips when she closed the door. Emily smilingly kissed him back, then he handed her the bouquet of flowers.

"Aaron, they are gorgeous…but you didn't have to." Aaron didn't respond, instead he pulled her into his arms for a passionate kiss.

"You look marvelous." He said when she pulled away, but he was still holding her in his arms.

"Thank you." Responded Emily, feeling herself blush.

"Are you ready?" Aaron asked, anxious for their date.

"Yes, just let me just get my coat." She said, going upstairs for her coat and purse.

The drive to the restaurant was peaceful and nice…they talked about work and Jack mostly, since they were both not sure where to start. They arrived to a very nice and exclusive Sushi restaurant since Aaron knew Emily love sushi. The hostess took them to their table, and they both sat down nervously, but ready to have this conversation. After ordering drinks and a bottle of wine, Aaron finally took her hand softly and kissed it, looking at her.

"I'm not sure how to start this, but I'll do it by telling you how very sorry I am for everything that happened….with Beth and for not believing in you. I am very sorry, Em , but mostly I'm very sorry for not realizing sooner how much you meant to me." He said, looking at her so intensely.

"Aaron, about Beth, you don't have to apologize that was before….well us….and you didn't know she was lying to you I'm sorry, too. I…was scared, and I thought that by marrying Andrew….my feelings for you would go away." She said, looking away.

'Then, I realized I was wrong….I would not have been able to go through with the wedding…I just couldn't." She said, looking at him sadly.

"I'm glad you didn't." He said, lacing her fingers between his.

"I know you just technically got out of a relationship….but…" He started, but she cut him off.

"I want to be with you, I don't need to think about it…I don't want to waste any more time," Aaron smiled leaning over to kiss her. Then, the server arrived with their drinks, and they ordered dinner while holding hands. When the server left he spoke to her again.

"I want to be with you too Emily, but I don't want a game, or a temporary relationship, I want to be with you for good." Emily just looked at him in shock.

Emily, it took me almost losing you to realize I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I'm not saying that we should get married now…I'm just saying…I want this to be a long term thing…I want us to think about a future together." Emily almost had tears in her eyes when Aaron said that.

"What about Jack? I don't want to confuse him with this." She asked, concerned.

"Emily, Jack won't be confused...one of the reasons I fell crazily in love with you is because of how incredibly amazing you are with my son, he loves you so much it amazes me."

"Jack would understand, and I'll make sure he knows what you mean to me." Emily nodded.

"And the team?" She asked again, she didn't want to sound insecure, but these were things that needed to be discussed.

"I'll talk to them, and I'll tell them how I feel about you." He said firmly.

"I'm not going to hide what I feel for you, Emily." He added when he saw the question on her eyes.

"I need to talk to them, too, about why the wedding got canceled. I just don't know how they're going to react." He reached for her hands and took both of them in his hands making her look at him.

"Sweetheart, all they need to understand is that we love each other…they are our friends, and they will support us on this, I'm sure of that." He encouraged her.

"And Strauss?" She asked shyly.

"She doesn't need to know right away. I'm positive that we can keep a professional relationship at work and still be together. If it comes to a point where I have to make Strauss aware that we are a couple, if I have to, I'll quit my job, and we can still be together." He stated firmly, one more time.

"No, I don't want you to do that, this job means everything to you!" Emily exclaimed, Aaron placed his hand softly on her chin bringing her eyes to his.

"This job doesn't mean everything to me…you and Jack do…and I will do anything for you two…do you understand that?" Emily nodded, and he captured her mouth in a soft and long kiss.

The rest of the dinner was about them…they ate holding hands and kissing like teenagers. Emily felt somewhat guilty because she felt like she should be feeling sorry, after all, it had not even been 24 hours since Andrew had ended things with her, but she couldn't stop her heart, she had not felt like this in a very long time, she wasn't going to waste any more time. She was completely in love with Aaron Hotchner, and she wanted this. She deserved to be happy with someone that loved her the same way she love him. Life had given her a second chance to make a choice about her happiness, and she wasn't going to waste that chance.

After dinner, they went to a nice bar and got a couple of drinks where they had a chance to talk more and even dance a couple of times. They were having an amazing time and suddenly everything outside of their world stopped existing, they were so focused on each other that it was amazing. It was their first day officially as a couple, but they had been out together hundreds of times, they knew each other so well that it was almost a scary thing. However, there was nothing else they would rather be doing right now, they were so in love with each other, and they could finally show it and say it out loud.

Late that night, Aaron drove Emily back to her place. Smiling deeply, he felt so good because it had been awhile since he had such an amazing night. When they arrived back at her apartment, she opened the door smiling and inviting him in, he accepted following her quietly. As soon as he closed the door to her apartment, Emily jumped on him slamming him to the closed door, her mouth attacking his in a fiery way. He kissed her back, feeling the passion and desire grow inside him, but he also respected her way too much, so he slowly pulled away from her and looked at her with questioning eyes.

"You know…I am a gentleman…I have no intentions on rushing anything." He reasoned.

"Aaron, we've known each other for years, and we love each other…you aren't exactly taking advantage of me." She said anxiously.

"I still don't want to pressure you." He was looking directly into her eyes.

"Aaron, please…I want this…I want you." She said, her eyes full of desire.

"Baby, are you sure?"

"Aaron Hotchner, I swear if you don't take me upstairs right now and make love to me, I will kill you!" She warned.

He finally pulled her to him, kissing her passionately, and letting her arms wrap around his neck, their tongues fighting for control and dominance; very softly; he carried her bridal style to her room upstairs. Their mouths still joined together in a passionate kiss. When he finally reached her room, he closed the door with his foot, placing the brunette softly on the floor as their mouths were still joined together. Then he pulled away from her looking at her intensely.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked again, softly.

"More than I've ever been sure about anything. Make love to me, Aaron." She said, seductively.

Emily just pulled Hotch to her, she lost sense of everything, the only thing that mattered to her right now was this moment they were melting in a kiss, moaning into each other's mouths. He slowly led her closer to the bed, and they just surrendered to their passion. Emily had almost unbuttoned all his shirt, and she ran her hands over his chest, making Hotch shiver at the contact of her soft hands; she let his shirt fall to the floor, and then she ran her hands all over his torso, not missing a single spot on his sexy figure, his hands were on her sides grasping her and pulling her closer to him, he slowly moved his hand to the back of her dress where the zipper was and cautiously pulled the zipper down. His hands went to her shoulders and pushed her dress, then he let the dress fall from her shoulders down smoothly from her glorious body landing on the floor. Emily stepped out of it with their mouths still connected. Aaron pulled away for a second admiring her glorious figure. She was wearing a black lace bra and panty set which made her alabaster skin stand out. His breath hitched, and his heart started beating faster than ever.

"God Lord, you are absolutely magnificent!" He said in awe, almost in a whisper. She could feel herself blushing deeply.

Hotch lifted her up in his arms again, and he softly placed her on the bed. He then leaned down and grabbed her foot, kissing it gently and cautiously removing her high heels; he did the same thing with the other foot, all the while his eyes never left her face. He quickly removed his own shoes and leaned down in the bed with her. He started at her lips, slowly, and then passionately, Emily was moaning now, he moved to her neck gently biting her earlobe tenderly. He moved down her neck placing soft kisses and gentle bites everywhere, making her whimper from his touch. Emily undid his pants and freed his belt while he was kissing her, then she slid his jeans down his ankles and removed them completely. Her hands were on his back and his shoulder blades now…God, she was so wet already, and it was unbelievable. He lingered across her chest, and then through the valley of her breasts…she had the most amazing breasts he had ever seen, he placed soft kisses on them through the lace fabric. He kept kissing his way down her smooth stomach, his gentle bites sending shivers throughout her body. He kissed her from her navel down to her pelvis, where Emily started to buck involuntarily, her breath hitching and her heart beating so fast she felt it was going to explode. She closed her eyes and ran her hands through his thick hair. Hotch moved to her slim legs, then her knees and her calves, and he kissed all the way to her foot doing the same with both legs taking all his time. Emily couldn't control herself anymore…he was killing her. "Oh God, Aaron, please." He smiled at the fact that she was about to lose control, he came back kissing the same way, and he stopped to meet her eyes again. He placed his finger on her lips shushing her tenderly.

"Relax baby, just close your eyes and let me take care of you." He said in a whisper.

"Oh God…" She moaned softly, with her eyes closed while he did indescribable things to her breast. His hand slowly slid down her legs…he could feel how wet and hot she was, and he couldn't stop himself from sliding one finger inside her wet core. Emily arched her back screaming at the feel of his finger. He smiled, watching her melt under his touch, while he played with her for a bit with his finger. Then he stopped, pulling his finger out and licking it hungrily. When he returned to her mouth, Emily could taste her juices on his mouth, and somehow, that made her even hotter, so, she slid her hand inside his boxers and cupped his erection. Then he leaned down to her stomach and grabbed her panties with his teeth and, keeping his eyes on her all the time, slid her panties down her long legs, then he started kissing from her ankle all the way up to her thighs, biting the skin softly and leaving tiny red marks where her his mouth had been. When he finally reached her hot center, he could smell her desire, and that just turned him even more. He reached between her folds with his tongue making her whimper, and making her breath become erratic. He licked her slit from back to front completely watching her closed eyes and watching the pleasure he was giving her. He slid his finger inside her again, and then a second one, curving his fingers to reach her g-spot, and when he began increasing the speed of his movements, Emily could feel her walls contracting and she knew her orgasm was close…

"Aaron, I am going cum….please." She begged, however he didn't stop, and a few seconds later she came, arching her back. Aaron finished drinking her sweet juices and returned to her mouth kissing her passionately. Tasting herself on his mouth was one of the most amazing and turned on experiences she had ever imagined. Aaron lined himself at her entrance and slowly, very slowly, he slid himself into her entrance while keeping eye contact with her at all time. She closed her eyes for a second, because he was stretching her to her max, and she had to adjust to his size, never in her life did she ever imagine he would be this big. When he started to move again, she opened her eyes to look at him, they didn't need any words they were so into each other that it was overwhelming. Emily flipped them on the bed, staying on the top and taking control of things; she sat down on his erection, riding him slowly and keeping eye contact with him all the time. He had better access to her breast now, so he captured her nipples in his mouth while she rode him slowly.

Soon, she speed up her movements, they were both moaning frantically, and Aaron could feel the warm feeling in his stomach growing but this was different, no woman had ever made him feel what Emily Prentiss made him feel at this moment, the closeness, the shivers, and the pleasure she was making him experience was something he had never ever imagined.

"Oh God, baby…..you feel so damn good." He said, his hands on her ass and hips helping her ride him.

When Emily leaned her body down to kiss him, her breast pressed against his chest, and his hands immediately went to her back, he tightened his arms around her back and one more time he flipped them on the bed, now in control of her, he could take her to heaven one more time before he, too, reached that point. She wrapped her arms around his waist as his movement inside her became faster and stronger, making her moan and scream his name…Emily was very vocal in bed, and that turned him on so much.

Slowly, he reached between their joined bodies, rubbing his finger on her clit timing his movements inside her with his movement of her clit. One more time, Emily felt her wall contract, and before she could say anything or do anything, she came again screaming his name.

"Oh yes…..Aaron…ohhhhhhhhhh…" She came, arching her back, his movements inside her were still frantic, and a few seconds later, he joined her grunting in her ear.

"Jesus, Em…ohhhhhhhh." He stayed inside her, shooting his seed deep inside her, while trying to catch his breath. He lingered at her neck placing soft kisses and watching the deep purple marks their lovemaking had left on her neck, but he didn't care, he had done that for a reason. He wanted to mark her as "HIS" and only his, he wanted everyone to know she was taken and she was his.

'I love you." He said, still inside her looking at her deeply.

"I love you too." Their mouths joined again for a passionate kiss, before he slid out of her and collapsed on the bed. He brought her into his arms making her rest on his chest, their breaths still catching.

They rested in each other's arms, more content than ever. It had taken them awhile to be together and to conquer all their fears, but finally they had let their hearts win and they were together now. They knew it would not be easy, and they still had things to conquer, like telling the team and Strauss, and whatever it was that blocked their happiness. But, they had each other now, they had made a choice, the choice to be together, and they just knew that they would make it together no matter how hard it was, because their love was stronger than anything the world could throw in their way, because they would face those things together.


End file.
